We knew that Venom star Tom Hardy had an oddball mix of personalities in mind when constructing both Eddie Brock and Brock’s toothy alien alter ego.

He said those personalities included Woody Allen, Redman, and Conor McGregor.

In a new interview with the UK version of Esquire, Hardy elaborated on using McGregor as inspiration. Turns out the MMA star’s personality influenced the actor in a surprising way:

“It was not Venom: he was not based on him. There were more elements of [Venom’s alter-ego] Eddie Brock which needed to be pinned on somebody who’s incredibly handy physically.

“And, obviously, Conor is incredibly handy physically,” said Hardy.

“There was an aspect the studio wanted somebody who could fight, which they always do in these sort of hero movies,” he added.

“They want somebody who can have a scrap. Conor obviously wants to have a scrap with everybody, so that’s useful…”

source: maxim.com