Pornhub legend Mia Khalifa is actually quite a "sweetheart" in real life, claims wrestler Joey Ryan, despite the fact that Khalifa had mocked WWE and pro wrestling.

The 26-year-old adult entertainer turned sports journalist and presenter locked horns with the independent wrestler, 39, in the ring in January last year.

In an interview with SportsKeeda, Ryan admitted he loved every minute of their segment and praised the bombshell beauty for being a good sport. He said: "She’s really nice. She's really sweet. She made those comments about professional wrestling and she didn't expect the backlash that she got, because a lot of people don't realize how big the professional wrestling fanbase is and how it's not really an underground thing, it's pretty mainstream."

The adult actress, who recently got engaged, had faced fierce backlash after mocking Ronda Rousey's decision to move from UFC to WWE. As a result, 39-year-old Ryan, famed for his "YouPorn Plex" crotch suplex, aka the Penis Plex, invited the Pornhub legend to a show in Austin, Texas.

Ryan said, "Once she saw the reaction to it, she took responsibility for her own comments. She actually went to a wrestling school and learned a little bit of wrestling from Thunder Rosa, who's Kobra Moon on Lucha Underground. She got in the ring a little bit and Sabotage Wrestling was in contact with her and wanted her to do a bit interrupting me in the ring. It was really fun."

As a part of the wrestling event last year, the Lebanese-born American beauty confronted Ryan, unwisely declaring that wrestling was not a real sport while calling the fan favorite wrestler a "giant, hairy man-baby".

Ryan, fondly known among fans as the King of Dong Style, uses his super strong bionic penis as a trademark, which he uses to flip his opponents after forcing them to grab it.

After Khalifa's ferocious comments, she narrowly escaped Ryan's gimmicks, but her security guard was not so fortunate, and a showdown ensued. The footage of the showdown went viral, as did a clip of Khalifa being slapped in the breasts during an in-ring workout with Thunder Rosa.

Ryan, however, still regards Khalifa as an absolute "sweetheart". He said, "She's a sweetheart and she owned up to her comments about professional wrestling. She learned about it herself, which is great, because some people just get stubborn with their ideas. But she was open to learning about it once she saw the backlash she got for making those comments."

Khalifa did, in fact, own up to anti-wrestling comments, tweeting: "People take things so seriously. I have no hate towards wrestlers, I just love talking s**t."