Justin Bieber Backtracks On Challenge To Fight Tom Cruise

On June 9, Justin Bieber seemed to get up to some weekend hijinks. He took to his Twitter account and decided to share his desire to face off with Tom Cruise in a physical fight, saying that he wants to challenge the actor to a “fight in the octagon.” Bieber also tagged Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White in his tweet.

Just a day later, Bieber continued the challenge, sharing a video clip that a fan had created superimposing Bieber’s face over an opponent that Cruise faced off against in a movie, Far and Away.

However, it seems that Bieber has since backtracked from his former challenge, as Us Weekly reports. TMZ approached Bieber to get an in-person comment about the challenge when Bieber was on his way out of his wife Hailey Baldwin’s office, and the pop star quickly changed his tune. In that brief interaction, he revealed that “the story is, I’d seen an interview with him and he was just on my mind.”

“I don’t know why… it was just a random tweet. I do that stuff sometimes.”

Cruise and his team didn’t end up commenting on the challenge before Bieber clarified that the challenge was just a joke. However, one person did — former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion Conor McGregor. The “Notorious” fighter took to Twitter, offering to help host the battle if it were to ever occur.

“If Tom Cruise is man enough to accept this challenge, McGregor Sports and Entertainment will host the bout. Does Cruise have the sprouts to fight, like he does in the movies? Stay tuned to find out!”

While Bieber doesn’t seem eager to get in the octagon with anyone, there’s a chance Cruise will eventually comment on the situation and offer up his own challenge.

Back on March 10, Bieber got a little vulnerable on Instagram with his fans, sharing a photo with a caption that revealed he was having a bit of a tough time. He commented that he’s “been struggling a lot” and had been “feeling super disconnected and weird.” He then added that he “just wanted to reach out and ask for your guys to pray for me.”

While many individuals impulsively share their thoughts on Twitter, it can be dangerous to do so when you’re a celebrity. After all, though Cruise hasn’t responded to the challenge Bieber set out on a random Sunday, he could very easily have responded and accepted within minutes. Then, Bieber would have found it a lot tougher to backtrack on his unexpected challenge.