Conor McGregor bares his backside and his nerves in new ‘Road House’: ‘I'm not an actor’

Start perfecting your right hook and your ability to dodge broken glass. We’re headed back to “Road House,” where fighting is as natural as breathing.

“Part of what makes this really fun to watch is that it doesn't take itself seriously, really at all, and it always lilts on the edge of, like, absurd,” says Jake Gyllenhaal, who leads the action-packed reimagining of the 1989 movie.

Patrick Swayze, Gyllenhaal’s “Donnie Darko” castmate, originated the role of the infamous bouncer Dalton, who is enlisted by the owner of the unbelievably raucous Double Deuce to temper its violent crowd. The remake directed by Doug Liman (“The Bourne Identity,” “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”) arrives Thursday on Prime Video.

'Road House': Jake Gyllenhaal got a staph infection, says his 'whole arm swelled up'

Swayze, 57, died in 2009 after battling pancreatic cancer, and the new film includes a dedication to the “Dirty Dancing” star, “whose legacy of strength and greatness reminds us all to BE NICE.” Gyllenhaal says his character also has tattoos honoring the first Dalton.

“I felt a love for him, and I wanted to carry him with me through it,” says Gyllenhaal, 43.

In the new iteration, bar owner Frankie (Jessica Williams) recruits former UFC fighter Elwood Dalton (Gyllenhaal) for security at her disorderly joint in the Florida Keys – labeled simply Road House – which is being eyed by Ben Brandt (Billy Magnussen) for a luxury resort. Post Malone also appears as a fighter in an opening scene. Real-life UFC champ Conor McGregor makes his movie debut as unhinged hitman Knox, who hopes to take out Dalton. The 35-year-old fighter makes a cheeky entrance, baring his nude backside.

“I am a free spirit, I am confident, I feel in good shape,” McGregor says. He also felt inspired in part by Swayze, who bared his backside in the original. “They asked me, and I said, ‘You know, go ahead.’ ”

McGregor, a fan of the original “Road House,” took interest in the remake because of Gyllenhaal, the filmmaking team and the integration of UFC. While in recovery after breaking his leg in a 2021 match, McGregor “took it as a sign that I must do this.”

The character was intended to be “a flash in the pan” and quickly eaten by a crocodile, he says, something he found out on a Zoom call with the director on McGregor’s yacht. He took his daughter’s toy crocodile and began acting out the scene.

“I'm splashing in and out of the water,” McGregor says. “Maybe after that, he said, ‘No, that’s not for him.’ ”

McGregor worked with two acting coaches and came into the project with a sense of humility. On the set, the MMA fighter was “wondering, asking questions,” Gyllenhaal remembers. “And the same goes for me. I don't fight.”

The first scene the two shot together is seen in the trailer when Knox headbutts Dalton at the bar.

“You're about to go head-to-head with Conor McGregor and it's not like you're in an acting scene, you're about to do a fight scene,” says Gyllenhaal. “The only way for me to pull this off is to recognize the fact that I've been doing what I've been doing for a long time, and I have a lot of experience there, too. So when those two faces meet, we're bringing two different versions of experience, and that was really fun.”

Fun with a few real hits mixed in. While filming that first scene, McGregor kept brawling, unaware they weren’t being filmed.

“Two times in a row, he just came at me and kicked me with a roundhouse,” Gyllenhaal recalls. “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.”

There were “lots of little injuries, but nothing too serious,” Gyllenhaal says. He put his hand through glass and got a staph infection. McGregor “cracked a few of the stunt guys” and got truly smacked in the face by a truck door, courtesy of Gyllenhaal.

“I had a black eye and everything from it,” McGregor says. Liman “was like, ‘Do it again! It wasn't real enough.’ I was like, I have … a big welt on my eye now. We had a great time filming, a lot of fun.”

At the movie’s South By Southwest festival premiere last week, Post Malone revealed to a packed theater his nerves about tackling the project, worrying, “There's no Auto-Tune for acting.” It’s a fear that McGregor shares for his first role.

“I began to see how good all the actors are and how skilled they are and how believable,” McGregor says. “And then I thought, ‘Jeez, I'm not an actor here … It's going to stand out really obvious that I’m the new guy, or I just don't know what I'm doing.

“I gave them what they asked of me, and I feel like I could have a lot more to give,” he says.

McGregor is leaving the door open for more movies, but his focus is returning to the octagon, hopefully for UFC 303 on June 29. But he is certain that Gyllenhaal nailed his portrayal of a UFC fighter. “Proper 12 out of 10, for sure,” McGregor compliments. “He was tremendous.” But McGregor’s pick for the castmate who would fare best in the ring is Jessica Williams.

“She's a confident, strong woman, beautiful, gorgeous,” McGregor says before mentioning Dalton’s love interest Ellie, played by Daniela Melchior, and bartender Laura (B.K. Cannon). “A lot of love for them. They were absolutely tremendous ? all of them. I wouldn't mess with (any) of them.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Road House': Why Conor McGregor clobbered Jake Gyllenhaal off-camera