Yep, you did read that right; Justin Bieber wants to fight Tom Cruise in the UFC. In what has to go down as one of the more surprising headlines to have come out of the first half of 2019, Canadian pop sensation and 25-year old teenager Justin Bieber took to Twitter at twitter.com/justinbieber to challenge Top Gun star and 56-year-old Tom Cruise to a mixed-martial arts fight, tagging in UFC president Dana White into the post.
It’s not as if there had been any previous beef between the two, either, as far as we know. Naturally, the call-out was met with much derision as confusion from the public.
“Justin Bieber in Brazil 10/05” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by DavidReeves3
Not one to pass up a chance to make money and headlines, two-weight UFC champion Conor McGregor quickly joined the conversation and offered to help stage the bout. The Irishman, whose last appearance in the Octagon saw him submitted by lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, has been spending his time away from the cage promoting his Proper 12 whiskey brand. McGregor has been linked with a return to action before the end of the year, with odds already available on redbet.com/en/sports on a potential rematch between the colourful Dubliner and the unbeaten Russian. For the record, Nurmagomedov is the current favourite at 1.28.
But rather than talking about dream fights between McGregor and Nurmagomedov, let’s get back to the very serious business of *checks notes* Justin Bieber fighting Tom Cruise in a cage. Aside from the thousands of reasons why this is ridiculous from the 31-year age gap to the fact we’re talking about JUSTIN BIEBER AND TOM CRUISE HERE, PEOPLE, there is also the small matter of a commission allowing a fight to take place.
The UFC and Bellator, the sport’s second biggest promotion, may have put on some questionable fights over the years, but even Americans have some limits when it comes to what is and what isn’t a sport. Listen to us going discussing whether or not a state commission would sanction a mixed-martial arts fight between Justin Bieber and Tom Cruise, as if that would be the stumbling block that stops this from happening.
I wanna challenge Tom Cruise to fight in the octagon. Tom if you dont take this fight your scared and you will never live it down. Who is willing to put on the fight? @danawhite ?
— Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) June 10, 2019
One positive to come out of this acid trip of a story has been the focus it has brought to the UFC, which is coming off a particularly good run of events. Without Conor McGregor, Ronda Rousey, Brock Lesnar and Georges St-Pierre, there had been a fear that the lack of star power would kill the UFC. As it is, though, the organisation is flourishing, making a lucrative switch from Fox to ESPN.
In terms of inside the cage, at UFC 238 we saw Tony Ferguson make the lightweight division even more complicated than it had already been, returning from the sidelines to beat Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone. On the same card in Chicago, Olympic gold medal winner Henry Cejudo joined Conor McGregor as a two-weight world champion after knocking out Marlon Moraes, as covered on sports.yahoo.com/
With Nurmagomedov set to return in September, McGregor linked with a fight towards the end of the year, Daniel Cormier’s rematch against Stipe Miocic, as well as a number of other fights, it’s best to forget Bieber vs. Cruise and focus on the real deal.
Damn right!
Justin Beiber has entered into the same Hall Of Nutsdom that Brittany Spears often inhabits.