Conor McGregor recently claimed to have had a point to prove in his acting debut. Case in point, former 3-time Academy Award winner Meryl Streep once made some negative comments about mixed martial arts and its athletes during the 2017 Golden Globes. That seemed to have affected McGregor as the former UFC champion recently revealed that Streep’s comments about martial arts was motivation for him to put his best foot forward in ‘Road House‘.

Conor McGregor has been the talk of the town, like always, but this time it was for his debut acting role in the remake of the 1989 Patrick Swayze classic. During the promotion of the movie, he sat down for an interview with ‘The Hollywood Reporter’, where he revealed how he felt after listening to what Meryl Streep had to say about his sport.

Meryl Streep’s comments affected Conor McGregor

During the 2017 Golden Globes, Meryl Streep won the Cecile B. DeMille award. After winning the award, she gave a speech, where she cherished the diversity in Hollywood against the political tension surrounding immigration issues in the U.S. However, the 74-year-old offended members of the martial arts community after she referred to it as not being a real art form. Streep said, “Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners. And if we kick them all out, you’ll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts.”

These comments seemingly affected Conor McGregor, who lives and breathes martial arts. He told ‘The Hollywood Reporter‘ that there are few things more beautiful than fighting, claiming that it was similar to acting, despite Meryl Streep’s disagreement. “Fighting is the most beautiful form of art, and you know, it’s a great thing to come into this game, which is also art,” said the Irishman.

He further mentioned that he did not expect Meryl Streep to look down on martial arts like she did. McGregor understands the dangers of fighting, but that doesn’t make it a less valuable form of art, according to the former UFC and Cage Warriors two-weight world champion. “I was really taken aback [by Streep’s comments] because fighting is an art. It’s brutal also, so I can understand. It’s not for somebody to make a mistake; it’s real artistry for those who do what we do,” ‘The Notorious’ added.

The 35-year-old further mentioned that the comments made by Meryl Streep acted as a catalyst for him to prove himself in ‘Road House’. He felt as if the responsibility to represent martial arts fell on his shoulders since he had to prove her wrong. “I came in [to film ‘Road House’] with maybe a little chip on my shoulder and wanting to represent my sport and my art, give my best in this arena.” Meanwhile, McGregor was not the only one affected by Streep’s comments, as Joe Rogan also raised an issue with it.

Joe Rogan took aim at Mery Streep for her ignorance of MMA

Joe Rogan is one of those people who never fails to make people know how much he loves MMA. His association with the UFC for almost 30 years is a testament to the passion he has for the sport and the role he played in popularising it to the public. As such, when he came across Meryl Streep’s comments about MMA, Rogan could not hold himself back from responding to the multiple-time Oscar winner.

In a past episode of the JRE podcast, Joe Rogan expressed his dissatisfaction with Meryl Streep for her ignorance towards MMA. “Meryl Streep. Great actress, but she doesn’t know. It’s ok. She’s got some silly idea that she thinks that acting is the end all be all and that’s the arts. Okay,” said Joe Rogan. He echoed the same sentiment as Conor McGregor and claimed that martial arts are one of the most beautiful forms of art out there.

Despite what Meryl Streep had to say about MMA, the sport continues to flourish as the UFC is set to reach a landmark 300th pay-per-view event in April. More and more fighters are popping up from different parts of the world, with Conor McGregor still being the flag-bearer of mixed martial arts.

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