This past week, Ryan Coogler was asked if coveted Conor McGregor‘s presence in his next Creed film. The director answered, “He’s awesome. Awesome. I just want to see those [UFC] fighters get more exposure, you know what I mean.” Despite the open-ended nature of Coogler’s answer, he still painted McGregor in a positive light, when he could have just as easily veered to the left.
The director’s intimations were enough to blow the McGregor soundbite out of proportions. Incidentally, it was a New York-based field reporter who took it up next, by shadowing Creed star Michael B. Jordan at a public event. As you’ll see, TMZ resorted to the same line of questioning Joe Sports put forth in the Coogler interview.
When asked to comment on the prospect of Conor McGregor joining the Creed family, Michael B. Jordan was of a different mind altogether. “Eh, I don’t know about that man,” he answered the reporter. The look on Jordan’s face is hard to decode. Is he communicating his dislike of the Irish prizefighter… I’d say no. My take is that his apprehension is actually centered around the “non-linearity” of the situation/question.
Jordan probably wasn’t privy to the Coogler interview that took place earlier in the week, and simply startled by the random question. Secondly, Conor McGregor isn’t a natural fit as a heavyweight opponent for the much larger Adonis Creed. In sensing that perhaps, the TMZ field reporter shifted the conversation towards another prizefighter who’s been linked to the sequel: American heavyweight titlist Deontay Wilder. On that note, Jordan seemed to be way more receptive to the American joining the cast.
