Conor McGregor has nothing but respect for Sydney Sweeney. ET’s Rachel Smith spoke with the UFC athlete at the premiere of Road House on Tuesday, and he praised the actress after he tried to start beef with her online.

It all started earlier this month when Sweeney took to Instagram to promote her upcoming film, Immaculate, which will hit theaters one day after Road House‘s release on Prime Video. With the films competing against each other, McGregor decided to hijack Sweeney’s post, by promoting his own movie in the comments.

When ET spoke with McGregor at the premiere, he noted that, after making his acting debut in Road House, he hopes to work with one of the “leading ladies” in the industry for his next role.

“I see a lot of Sydney Sweeney. [She’s] doing a lot of great things lately,” McGregor said, before insisting he “was not talking smack on her” with his Instagram comments.

“She follows me, so I follow her. I’m a fan. She’s doing very good,” he said. “I thought she was amazing on Saturday Night Live. I love Saturday Night Live [and] that was one of the better ones in years.”

Before he tries to team up with Sweeney for his next project, McGregor is focused on promoting Road House, which he stars in alongside Jake Gyllenhaal.

“I was blessed, very, very lucky to walk alongside Jake and learn from Jake,” he said. “… We had a great rapport on set. [He’s a] dear friend of mine, helped me tremendously… I’m pretty grateful for Jake Gyllenhaal.”

“I feel like I’m a sponge when it comes to learning things. I’m very curious, especially [about] things I’m interested in. I’m very curious about the craft,” McGregor added. “I ask lots of questions to him and he just guided me the right way. I was very pleased about it.”

Though he made sure to ask plenty of questions while making the movie, McGregor was not nervous to act for the first time.

“That’s who I was. I went in character and went right through it,” he said. “I was confident. I was about my business. I had an objective and that was it. I was going to complete it.”

Road House will begin streaming March 21 on Prime Video.

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