Sylvester Stallone Talks Arnold Schwarzenegger Rivalry & Where They Stand Today

Sylvester Stallone just shared an update on his tense rivalry with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

During a panel at PaleyFest NY 2026, Stallone brought up Schwarzenegger while discussing the Paramount+ series Tulsa King. He compared their dynamic to his character, Dwight Manfredi, and Frank Grillo‘s character, Bill Bevilaqua.

Grillo said the characters had an “ebb and flow” to their relationship, per People, explaining, “I don’t think they trust each other, but there are times when they need each other.”

Stallone agreed, “There’s a certain camaraderie… there’s a respect. We’re very similar types.”

That’s when the Rocky star revealed, “It’s like me and Schwarzenegger. We’re good friends now. We’ve gotten mellow. But you have these two adversarial guys, and sometimes you really find that in real life, that just continues to up your game. That’s it.”

@siriusxmcanada How did @arnoldschnitzel go from hating @sylvesterstallone to becoming friends? Listen to the full interview at the link in bio! #ArnoldSchwarzenegger #SylvesterStallone #PlanetHollywood #RadioAndy ♬ original sound – SiriusXM Canada

In the late ’70s and ’80s, Schwarzenegger, 79, and Stallone, 80, were engaged in a fierce box office race. Things reportedly got petty at the 1977 Golden Globe Awards. Rocky was nominated for six awards, but only one for Best Motion Picture – Drama. Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger snagged the New Star of the Year award for Stay Hungry. Both actors claimed bad behavior of the other at the awards ceremony — including Schwarzenegger reportedly laughing when Rocky lost the other awards, and Stallone reportedly throwing a bowl of flowers at Schwarzenegger.

Through the years, the actors starred in competing action films, including Schwarzenegger’s The Terminator (1984) and Commando (1985) and Stallone’s Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985); Schwarzenegger’s Predator (1987) and Stallone’s Cobra (1986); and Schwarzenegger’s Red Heat (1988) and Stallone’s Rambo III (1988).

The duo later joined forces for films like The Expendables (2010), The Expendables 2 (2012), Escape Plan (2013), and The Expendables 3 (2014).

“We hated each other,” Schwarzenegger admitted in a 2025 interview with Andy Cohen on SiriusXM’s Radio Andy. “We were kind of attacking each other and doing nasty things, and saying nasty things about each other, and all these stupid things.”

Ultimately, it was partnering for the restaurant chain Planet Hollywood alongside other celebrities that brought them together.

Schwarzenegger added, “At that point, I had grown out of my craziness. So sure enough, we made it work.”