Just another day, another tiny popstar calling out a middle-aged actor and challenging to an MMA fight.
Quite what triggered Justin Bieber’s decision to call out the Top Gun star is anybody’s guess, but his tweet is still available for all to view:
“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?” Bieber wrote.
The child star also sent an @ to Dana White, the president of the UFC, perhaps in an attempt to get backing from the MMA organisation.
At the time of writing, the 56-year-old Cruise is yet to respond, and although he may be advancing in years this is a man who willingly dangles himself from moving helicopters for a living, and so fear is perhaps not the angle that Bieber should be aiming at.
And the bookies believe the potential would be a Mission Nearly Impossible for the Baby, Baby singer, with Paddy Power making him the even money outsider and Cruise an 8/11 favourite to take the spoils.
Others have jumped on the publicity, with Conor McGregor – notorious in name and in his shy public persona – was quick to board the bandwagon.
“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!” was the Irishman’s rather tongue-in-cheek tweet.
It seems highly unlikely that the pair will tackle each other in the Octagon – why would they? – and that Bieber maybe had had a little bit too much of something prior to posting.
Besides, it’s not A-list celebrities that get their knuckles dirty in the pursuit of fame and money, it’s usually those a little further down the pecking order….
Todd Bridges vs Vanilla Ice
In the first series of the US TV show Celebrity Boxing, one-hit wonder Vanilla Ice was paired up against actor Diff’rent Strokes actor Todd Bridges (ask your parents).
Ice, who bizarrely chose the name ‘Bi-Polar’ on his ring attire, was trained by MMA legend Tank Abbot, and went into the fight as a heavy favourite.
But Bridges dominated the contest from the get-go, and twice dumped Ice on the canvas. He went on to win by unanimous decision, and melt the hearts of Vanilla Ice fans around the globe.
Joey Buttafuoco vs Joanie ‘Chyna’ Laurie
The second series of Celebrity Boxing took a bizarre and unsavoury twist.
First up, William ‘The Fridge’ Perry, a retired NFL star, took on Manute Bol, the 7ft 7in former NBA player and political activist. Neither man could hardly move due to their various physical issues, and in the end BOL won on points thanks mostly to this 100in reach.
The last fight on the bill was even more troubling. Joey Buttafuoco, a garage owner who was famous for having an affair with an underage girl who subsequently shot his wife in the face, was scheduled to face John Wayne Bobbitt, a man famous for having his penis cut off by his wife. We are honestly not making this up.
But Bobbitt pulled out, and when former WWE ace Joanie ‘Chyna’ Laurie was called up as a replacement – yes, the female sports entertainer Chyna – Buttafuoco got cold feet.
Show producers then approached Weird Al Yankovich to take on Chyna, he sensibly declined, before Buttafuoco was persuaded to take on the bout. What followed was a freak show, for want of a better word, as he jabbed his way to a points victory over his gallant opponent.
Dennis Rodman & Todd Bridges vs Butterbean & Screech
It’s the fight you never thought you wanted to see: NBA legend and Kim Jong-il’s bestie Dennis Rodman teaming up with Willis (that man Todd Bridges again) to battle roly-poly fighter Butterbean and Screech from Saved By the Bell.
This was part of Hulk Hogan’s Celebrity Wrestling, where the action was real enough to cause some genuine injuries to many that took part.
In the end, Rodman and Bridges teamed up to defeat the team of Butterbean and Dustin ‘Screech’ Diamond, before the former Chicago Bulls man was crowned champion after the final.