Justin Bieber Says He Was 'Just Playing' About Challenging Tom Cruise to a UFC Fight

Just days after challenging Tom Cruise to a UFC fight, Justin Bieber isn't keeping that same confidence

As it turns out, Justin Bieber isn’t ready to throw punches with Tom Cruise — at least, not yet.

The “Sorry” singer originally challenged the Mission: Impossible actor to a UFC fight in a tweet on Sunday, writing, “I wanna challenge Tom Cruise to fight in the octagon. Tom if you don’t take this fight your [sic] scared and you will never live it down. Who is willing to put on the fight? @danawhite ?” (The UFC Octagon is the organization’s famed arena with eight sides, while Dana White is the UFC president).

But in video captured by TMZ of Bieber, 25, leaving wife Hailey Baldwin‘s offices in Los Angeles on Wednesday, he admitted that he was “just playing” when he wrote the tweet about challenging Cruise, 56, to the fight.

“I don’t know him,” he explained. “He’s tight. The story is I saw an interview with him, and he was just on my mind. It was just a random tweet. I do that stuff sometimes.”

He added: “Tom, he’d probably whoop my ass in a fight.”

When asked whether he would actually fight Cruise if he accepted the challenge, Bieber said he’d “have to get into shape” first.

“I’m really skinny right now,” he said. “I think he’d probably be out of my weight class.”

“He’s got that dad strength,” he continued, before asking, “He’s a dad right?”

Matt Baron/Shutterstock; Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock

Cruise — who shares daughter Suri, 13, with ex-wife Katie Holmes and son Connor, 24, and daughter Isabella, 26, with ex-wife Nicole Kidman — is known for his athletic prowess, often completing his own death-defying stunts on his film sets.

After Bieber had tweeted about the fight on Sunday, it quickly went viral and UFC champion Conor McGregor even chimed in with an offer to host.

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

The Irish athlete, 30, then called on Mark Wahlberg to compete against him in a fight of their own.

“I challenge Mark Wahlberg on the very same card. Back when Mark Wahlberg was Marky Mark, I’d’ve still slapped the ears off him and took my UFC shares back,” he wrote.

Other fighters chimed in, too, like mixed martial artist Bobby Nash, who wrote, “You’re calling out a 56 year old man lol.” And for the record, Bieber stands at 5’ 9,” while Cruise comes in just below that at 5’ 7”.