Entertainment gossip and news from Newsweek’s network of contributors
Joe Rogan calls it like he sees it — and right now, he’s not buying Conor McGregor’s most recent claim.
McGregor — who just made his big screen debut alongside Jake Gyllenhaal in the remake of Road House — noted that acting was harder than MMA fighting while in conversation with U.K.’s JOE at the premiere of the film.
“Acting [is harder]. Time, time, time consumption, and it’s not just action and fighting and stunts, it’s also remembering the line and you have to time things correctly, you’re engaging with another person,” McGregor stated, adding: “It’s just a difficult game, a lot more difficult than I gave it credit for.”
Rogan not only disagreed — he gave a mouthful that he directed toward McGregor.
“Listen to me. That’s not true. That’s not true, even for him,” Rogan said on a recent episode of his eponymous podcast when McGregor’s remarks were brought up. “OK. Act in Road House or fight Khabib [Nurmagomedov] again? Shut the f*** up, that’s crazy talk.”
The controversial podcast continued to lambast McGregor’s opinion, seemingly referring to the time The Irishman broke his leg in a 2021 fight with Dustin Poirier. “He broke his f****** leg in a fight! He broke his leg!” Rogan cried. “Like, that’s harder. That’s way harder than f****** acting.”
McGregor, for his part, told USA Today that it was this break that actually inspired him to take on the role of Knox, who fights Gyllenhaal’s Dalton. McGregor “took it as a sign that I must do this,” he told USA Today in an interview on March 20.
Carmen Mandato/Getty Images
As for Gyllenhaal, he revealed that McGregor was so into the character — and his MMA career — that would forget he wasn’t supposed to be fighting when the cameras weren’t rolling.
“Two times in a row, he just came at me and kicked me with a roundhouse,” Gyllenhaal told USA Today. “I had to be like, ‘We’re not on camera. You know that?’ And he’d be like, ‘Oh, sorry! I didn’t know!’ There was a learning curve.”
Though Rogan may not have agreed with McGregor’s take on acting vs. UFC fighting, he did give credit where credit is due.
“This guy’s promoting a movie. He’s a great promoter. He’s the best promoter in the history of the sport,” the UFC commentator said of McGregor. “No one even comes close. There’s Conor McGregor and then everybody else.”
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.