Warning! This article contains spoilers for Road House (2024).

Summary

• The Road House remake is intertwined with UFC, featuring cameos from notable fighters and a fresh take on the story.
• Conor McGregor shines as the main villain Knox, showcasing his acting chops alongside his MMA skills.
• With appearances by UFC figures like Bruce Buffer and Jay Hieron, the remake's fight scenes are intense and memorable.

The Road House remake is heavily tied into the world of UFC, and it features a handful of ing turns and notable cameo appearances by UFC fighters and pundits. Like the Patrick Swayze-starring 1989 original, the 2024 Road House remake revolves around a bouncer named Dalton, who’s hired to protect a small-town roadhouse bar from the ruthless businessman who wants to tear it down and gentrify the area. Jake Gyllenhaal’s Dalton, unlike Swayze’s, is a former UFC middleweight champion. This added backstory paved the way for cameos – and a key villain performance – by renowned UFC figures.

As Dalton is haunted by the title fight where he went too far and gave his opponent an illegal beating, the Road House remake keeps flashing back to that night. These flashbacks allowed UFC icons like announcer Bruce Buffer and fighter Jay Hieron to appear in the movie. On top of these fan-pleasing cameos, the controversial Road House remake’s cast also features Conor McGregor as the main villain opposite Gyllenhaal. Not only did the presence of UFC fighters put a fresh spin on the familiar Road House story; it also made the remake’s fight scenes uniquely intense.

5 Conor McGregor As Knox

The most prominent UFC fighter in the Road House remake’s cast is “The Notorious” Conor McGregor in the role of the main villain, Knox. This marks McGregor’s live-action acting debut. He previously played the voice role of Captain Bradley Fillion in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and also voiced himself in a series of EA Sports UFC games, but Road House is the first time McGregor has acted in a movie. With his turn as Knox, McGregor has proven himself to be a magnetic, charismatic screen presence, and just as formidable an action star as he is a fighter.

With the titles of Featherweight and Lightweight Champion, McGregor became the first ever UFC fighter to hold UFC championships in two weight classes at the same time. He’s also a former Cage Warriors Champion in the same weight classes. Outside the octagon, McGregor is known for trash-talking his opponents to get in their heads before a big fight. McGregor is renowned for his knockout power, having won most of his MMA victories by either knockout or technical knockout. McGregor is the highest-grossing pay-per-view draw in the history of MMA, having been featured in the five top-selling UFC PPV events.

McGregor’s Knox is one of the most memorable action movie villains to come along in a while. Gyllenhaal’s Dalton is introduced as an unstoppable force of nature who can effortlessly beat up half a dozen men at once, but Knox still arrives as a formidable threat. He’s even bigger and badder than Dalton. He’s unfazed by gruesome injuries in the midst of a fight; they only seem to fuel his rage and his drive to win even more. This doesn’t play like a debut performance; it plays like a performance by a seasoned action movie veteran.

McGregor’s only previous film appearance was in Conor McGregor: Notorious, a 2017 documentary about himself.

4 Bruce Buffer As Himself

When Dalton settles down to sleep in his houseboat on his first night in Glass Key, he has a flashback to his UFC career. As he approaches the octagon set to Rina Sawayama’s cover of “Enter Sandman” by Metallica, Dalton is introduced by real-life UFC announcer Bruce Buffer. Who better than Buffer to deliver key exposition about Dalton’s past? As Dalton steps into the octagon, Buffer explains that it’s a title fight to determine who is the world middleweight champion. Buffer brings his signature announcing style to this scene, making it play like a real fight with real championship stakes.

3 Jay Hieron As Jax “Jetway” Harris

The first flashback to Dalton’s fight for the title of middleweight world champion cuts back before the actual fight begins. The fight itself isn’t seen until the second flashback. After Buffer introduces Dalton as the challenger, he turns to the other side of the octagon and introduces his opponent: Jax “Jetway” Harris. Jetway is a fictional UFC fighter created for the film, but he’s played by a real UFC fighter, Jay Hieron, who nails the scene. In real life, Hieron retired from MMA competition on March 7, 2014, following an impressive career with 23 wins and seven losses.

Hieron’s athletic career began as a wrestler in high school; he was a two-time state wrestling championship runner-up at Freeport High School and national Junior College Champion at Nassau Community College. In the IFL, competing for the Los Angeles Anacondas, Hieron was the final IFL Welterweight Champion. In addition to the UFC, Hieron has competed in the WEC, Affliction, Strikeforce, and Bellator. His other titles include the IFL 2007 Welterweight Grand Prix Champion and the Bellator Season 4 Welterweight Tournament Winner.

2 Jon Anik As Himself

When the well-reviewed Road House remake was in production, the most heavily publicized filming day was when Gyllenhaal shot a scene on stage at the ceremonial weigh-ins for UFC 285 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. This weigh-in scene appears during Dalton’s second flashback to his UFC days, as he prepares to fight Jetway. At the weigh-in, Dalton is interviewed by play-by-play announcer Jon Anik, playing himself. When Anik moved over to UFC in 2012, he’d been an anchor at ESPN for five years. His ion and expertise have made him a highly respected and sought-after commentator.

1 Dana White As Himself

During the weigh-in, when Dalton and Jetway are trash-talking each other and getting in each other’s faces, Dalton slaps Jetway, prompting UFC personnel to step in and break them up. In between Dalton and Jetway, UFC president Dana White can be spotted, keeping them apart. White has a whopping estimated net worth of $500 million. Not only is he the president and CEO of UFC; he also owns a slap fighting promotion called Power Slap.

White’s Road House cameo is brief, but it adds to the reality of the movie to have the president of UFC at a UFC event. This isn’t White’s first cameo appearance as himself. He also appeared in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 12, episode 4, “Wolf Cola: A Public Relations Nightmare,” when Mac and Charlie interrupted a UFC weigh-in. In both his Road House and Always Sunny cameos, White is required to break up a rowdy disturbance at a UFC event.