A hair and makeup designer has revealed why MMA fighter Conor McGregor had to have his tattoos covered up and changed in a recent Instagram post. On the social media platform, Flora Moody showed her team working on McGregor's tattoos and why.

Irish UFC superstar is having his famous tatts covered up, with fake ones added, for his role in Amazon's upcoming film, Roadhouse. In the remake of the hit 1980s movie, Jake Gyllenhaal plays a former UFC fighter Elwood Dalton, while McGregor, a real former UFC fighter is an '"unhinged hitman".

In her Instagram post, Moody said: "The process of covering Conor's own tattoos & adding fake ones took 3 of us an hour." Known for his ink, McGregor has his own name and nickname on his stomach, accompanied by a tiger.

On his chest, he has a silverback gorilla with a crown on its head and various on his forearm and back. His first tattoo is perhaps his smallest, is in Arabic and he got it while drunk. McGregor says he has no idea what it means and he: "Got it in Ayia Napa for €20. It could mean anything."

All of these had to be either covered up or altered amid copyright laws. In the comment section, one Instagram user said: "Hilarious. I didn't even notice they were different tattoos. What a waste of time."

Instagram

Defending her work and explaining why the makeup team had to cover them up, Moody replied: "Not a waste of time. The tattoo artist could sue Amazon for millions if he didn't give permission for his artwork to be shown on camera. That's why it had to be done."

landonuckles hit back: "That's completely incorrect. When you pay for a tattoo, you are buying the art from the artist. It is yours to do with as you please. That's the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard."

However, Moody is right, as many users pointed out. VaughanRaff77 said: "She's right." They then added: "The artist who did Mike Tyson’s tattoo sued Warner bros for the tattoo being in Hangover 2 and won"

RicoSuave15 added: "I Googled it. Yes tattoos can be copyrighted by the artist. There have been cases of UFC video game being sued because the game depicted a tattoo of a fighter. Us ordinary people don't have to worry. We not in movies, video games etc."