UFC star Michael Chandler has claimed that he was originally approached for the role that Conor McGregor ended up landing in Jake Gyllenhaal's new movie.
McGregor is set for his long-awaited Hollywood debut where he will play alongside award-winning actor Gyllenhaal in a remake of the Patrick Swayze classic Road House. The film was shot in the Dominican Republic, with McGregor taking on a new role that wasn't in the original film, which Chandler claims was first offered to him.
The pair appear to be cordial with one another, and McGregor has indicated that he would eventually like to take on Chandler, a former Bellator lightweight champion and UFC title contender. But despite knowing that McGregor would be offering him a big opportunity if he signed to meet him in the cage, Chandler believes that he has also helped out his rival by turning down the film.
"I was obviously in the running for Conor coming back," Chandler explained during an appearance on the PBD Podcast. "Obviously I called him out, everyone was talking about it, he even tweeted me and I tweeted him back. Once again, this was in a very respectful manner which is great.
"But I think now he's doing the Road House remake with Jake Gyllenhaal, the movie. I actually got called about that, Jake Gyllenhaal is playing Patrick Swayze [role] - I don't know [who McGregor is playing]. I didn't think about that there's no Irish guys in there, he's going to have to learn an American accent."
McGregor has recently taken to Instagram with a post that could be a possible retort to Chandler, after having slammed fighters who attempted to break into Hollywood before. "This Roadhouse is mine," he wrote in the caption for a photo of his bloodied hand presumably after punching something.
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“All these little twerps wannabe actors now,” McGregor wrote in a tweet mocking other fighters recently, that was hastily deleted. “Little twerps, There’s Only One Mac Daddy. Bad to the bone but with a good heart. Action with Jake [Gyllenhaal] or rom com with Sarah Jessica [Parker]. Bisping, 'member that show you were in. Yeah, me neither.”
It caused a rift with long-standing rival Michael Bisping that got violent at times, with the pair going back-and-forth through voice notes and podcast jabs. However, they have since both claimed that they were joking when the feud got too personal, and have rescinded their comments.
"Hey Mike, it's Conor here. Just getting on about that video," McGregor said in a voice note that somehow has survived his usual 'tweet-and-delete' treatment, tagging Bisping and Chael Sonnen. "I saw you didn't understand I was simply acting. I thought you would have known, brother. All my love my man, God bless the show, God bless the fam and God bless my man."
