If former UFC welterweight Nate Diaz is going to get his ass whooped on Prime, then he wants to make sure he loses to a respectable opponent, not some Hollywood pretty boy with film credits like “Brokeback Mountain.”
That’s why the combat sports bad boy rejected the role, which eventually went to longtime rival, Conor McGregor. Whether or not that’s actually true or some ganja-induced fantasy is unclear, but Diaz told The HJR Podcast he turned it down.
I’m sure that came as a relief to the blue-eyes brigade.
“I was supposed to do Conor McGregor’s part in Road House,” Diaz said. “That was my part, but I was like, ‘I’m not fighting, go in there, and losing a fight.’ I’ve seen the original Roadhouse. So I’m the main bad guy? I’m supposed to fight … okay, who’s the Patrick Swayze then? And they said it was Jake Gyllenhaal and I’m like, ‘I ain’t going to no movie and losing to no Brokeback Mountain.’ F*ck that. I’m good. I can’t do it.”
Probably for the best, considering it was already too “humorous.”
McGregor helped lead Road House to record-breaking numbers, so I doubt anyone in the Prime studio was lamenting the loss of Diaz. In addition, the original Road House was expected to star former UFC women’s bantamweight champion, Ronda Rousey.
Holly Holm (along with bad acting) ended those plans in late 2015, which may (or may not) have been a boon for all the “virgins and WWE fans” who jumped on the eventual remake. As for Diaz, now 40, he’s still mulling a potential return to the Octagon in 2026.
