Conor McGregor didn’t pull many punches while filming “Road House.” Or kicks, apparently.
The former UFC double champion told ESPN that he dropped several stuntmen with his educated feet in his acting debut.
“I put a few of them down,” McGregor said Tuesday while promoting the film. “Spinning back kicks and all, yeah? Spinning back kicks to the ribs, a couple head kicks. A couple of side kicks to the head as well. … I won’t tell the story, but there were some real shots for sure.”
McGregor wasn’t trying to be too aggressive. He said that’s what those working on the movie wanted.
“I hit the guys, they hit me and I had no issue with that,” McGregor said. “And they had no issue. They told me to. ‘F—ing no, hit them for real.’ [I said,] ‘Are you sure?'”
McGregor said he was on set during star Jake Gyllenhaal’s fight scenes and would give Gyllenhaal advice. McGregor noted that Gyllenhaal trained in boxing for the movie “Southpaw.”
“Jake can throw a backhand, he can throw a jab, he’s got a hook, uppercut,” said McGregor, who shouted out stuntmen Garrett Warren and Steve Brown for their work on the movie. “He’s done the ‘Southpaw’ movie. He’s got the basics of it down.
“I was saying, ‘Torque the body, turn the shoulder back, load the shot.’ Just things to make the shot more venomous and more real. I was very involved in that. … The UFC fans and the fight fans around the world … They’ll be happy with this. They’ll be proud. They’ll be excited and they’re going to love the fight scenes.”
McGregor, 35, said some of the days shooting went for 18 hours, an exhausting amount of time and physical output. He said he tried pushing the pace as best he could and when Gyllenhaal said he was done, then the filming was wrapped for the day.
“Jake would actually hit a wall and say, ‘Look guys, I’m done,'” McGregor said with a laugh. “And he was Number One. So, when he was done, we were all done. So, I was pushing his pace, so he’d call it a day and then I’d get to get home, too. So, a great experience, great team. Blessed, lucky.”
