Jake Gyllenhaal picked up the middleweight world title by knocking out MMA veteran Jay Hieron between fights at UFC 285 on Saturday night.
The Academy Award-nominated actor appeared as Elwood Dalton to film fight scenes for his soon-to-be-released Amazon Prime remake of the 1980s classic Road House.
Between the actual fights, Gyllenhaal entertained the T-Mobile Arena crowd in Las Vegas by filming what appears to be a pivotal fight scene with Hieron who plays his opponent, Jack Harris.
In the scene, the 42-year-old is caught with his back against the cage as Hieron lands several big head shots before Gyllenhaal turns the tide with a three-punch combination.
After being dropped by the Hollywood superstar’s third shot, Hieron tries to get back to his feet but is put back down by a spectacular flying knee reminiscent of Jorge Masvidal’s famous KO of Ben Askren.
Gyllenhaal finishes the fight with ground strikes and continues to hit his rival even as referee Chris Tognoni waves off the bout and tries to get him to stop throwing punches.
Scenes for Road House have been filmed throughout the UFC 285 fight week.
On Friday, the weigh-in for Jon Jones vs Ciryl Gane was interrupted so Gyllenhaal could step on the scale and shoot a scene to set up the fight they filmed the following day.
UFC president Dana White will have a cameo in the 2023 movie as he squared off the two fictional fighters off before they got into an altercation when Gyllenhaal’s character slapped Hieron’s.
In a post-weigh-in interview, Gyllenhaal’s character said: “This f***er just makes me laugh, ’cause he’s a f***ing joke. Let’s go. Just give me the belt. Just give it to me. Hand it to me.”
Hieron’s character called Gyllenhaal a ‘f***ing bum’ and replied: “I promise you that’s the one and only hit you get. I’m putting you to sleep tomorrow night.”
UFC legend Conor McGregor was also in attendance at the weigh-in.
The Irishman will make his acting debut alongside Gyllenhaal in Road House, but it’s currently unclear who McGregor will play, although it is known that he will appear as an original character and the charismatic MMA star will not be appearing as himself.
‘Notorious’ filmed his scenes for the film in 2022 and is now working on the latest series of The Ultimate Fighter alongside Michael Chandler before they fight later this year.
