UFC superstar Conor McGregor goes Complex Sneaker Shopping with Road House rival Jake Gyllenhaal

The protagonist and antagonist of Amazon's revival of the 1989 cult classic Road House met Complex's Joe La Puma at Stadium Goods in New York City to be guests on the latest edition of Complex Sneaker Shopping. In the film, the acclaimed actor Gyllenhaal portrays a disgraced ex-UFC fighter named Elwood Dalton, the reimagined character based on Patrick Swayze's original portrayal of James Dalton. While "The Notorious" Conor McGregor plays his key adversary, the twisted and angry Knox. But when the two men behind the characters got together to chat sneakers, it was all smiles and laughs.

For The Notorious One, he may be one of the UFC's most profitable megastars in the company's history. McGregor experienced a rapid ascent to the top in a relatively short time frame, quickly becoming the undisputed Featherweight champion in 2015 and later the undisputed Lightweight king in 2016. But despite his brash and luxurious nature, The Notorious had far from a well-off upbringing during his early roots in Ireland. In fact, just before he made his Octagon debut against Marcus Brimage in 2013, McGregor collected a welfare cheque of about USD 220.

"I often think about where my obsession with money came, on my want to acquire money came from. And it was to get runners. To have clean runners. If you had a clean pair of runners, it was a statement... It was important to me and that was why I started acquiring money."

- Conor McGregor

On the other hand, McGregor's co-star Jake Gyllenhaal credits the Reebok Pump for kickstarting his love for sneakers. As he put it, "All I could think about was that half basketball". When he finally did get a pair, Gyllenhaal laughed as he recalled constantly pumping and releasing, and ultimately questioned the Pump's authenticity, but says it didn't matter because he felt like he was on a "spaceship".

Complex's Joe La Puma mentions a moment in the early 2000s when Gyllenhaal was photographed rocking a pair of LA-themed Nike Dunk Lows, a shoe which in the present day has completely skyrocketed in popularity again. Gyllenhaal had this to say about his fondness for the Dunk silhouette:

"To me, it's always about the fit... Like fit around the pant. But also like to me, the Lakers... I grew up in LA. And so, I loved that color scheme. It always matched for me, I like having accessories on my feet, but something more simple on top. So, that was the beginning of where I started to play around with lots of color. And I love color. "

- Jake Gyllenhaal

As any traditional Complex Sneaker Shopping episode goes, the trio discussed a whole host of different sneakers including the Nike Kobe 5 Protro "Bruce Lee", Nike KD 7 "What The KD", and the timeless Adidas Gazelle that Gyllenhaal wore for a majority of his role in Donnie Darko.

Arguably the best part of the episode is the complete awe from Gyllenhaal and McGregor concerning the Nike MAG "Back to the Future". Despite being wealthy superstars of their respective crafts, they were both drawn aback at the insane $35,000 price tag. The Notorious even jokingly said, "My man Jake, you're up!" to which Jake replied, "Oh, they don't have my size... That's too bad!"

In the end, the two Road House stars made out with relatively large shoe hauls. Gyllenhaal purchased 22 pairs of White Nike Air Force 1s for charitable purposes. At the same time, McGregor also made out with over 20+ pairs but of a much higher-end taste, which ultimately saw his total ringing up to nearly $26,000. However, most of the sneakers he purchased were for his children, who he mentioned in the interview are bigger sneakerheads than him.

The 2024 version of Road House has received mixed reviews thus far, however, there is no denying the duo of Jake Gyllenhaal and Conor McGregor are a ton of fun on-screen. As far as McGregor's UFC endeavors are concerned, he has long been attached to a rumored fight with Michael Chandler, but there has yet to be an official announcement or date. In the meantime, The Notorious is clearly enjoying the Hollywood life with his newfound buddy, Jake Gyllenhaal.