Dave Bautista praised after explaining why he covered up tattoo of person he considered to be his friend

If you weren't already a fan of Dave Bautista, you will be now.

Bautista initially found fame as a WWE wrestler, but went on the break Hollywood when he landed the role of Drax the Destroyer in Guardians of the Galaxy, working alongside the likes of Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldaña.

But while he often plays big and scary characters, he's actually quite the pussycat - showing his more sensitive when he explained the reason he covered up one of his many tattoos.

Bautista is covered in ink, and in a chat with GQ earlier this year, the 54-year-old broke down all his different designs.

One that's on his inner forearm turned out to be a cover up of a previous tattoo he had, and Bautista went on to explain what it was and why he didn't want it anymore.

Pointing at the ink, he said: "It used to be team logo.

"I was a part of a team with a person I considered a friend and someone I really looked up to.

"And then he later came out publicly with some anti-gay statements. He turned out to be an extreme homophobe and so I had a huge issue with it, a personal issue - my mom's a lesbian."

YouTube/GQ

"And I just could no longer call him a friend so I had it covered up," the actor added.

Someone's since shared a series of screengrabs of the YouTube video and Bautista's comments alongside the caption: "Did I just become a Dave Bautista stan?"

"I stan him even more now," someone replied, as another person labeled him as 'very stanworthy'.

One gushed: "He’s a pure gentleman. I love him so much. It’s always morals over money for him and I respect him so much for it."

"I already was one, but this just kicked it up a notch," someone else added in light of Bautista's LGBTQ+ positive comments.

Meanwhile, someone went as far as branding the Blade Runner 2049 star as a 'national treasure'.

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

But it's not just the LGBTQ+ community Bautista speaks out for - he's also publicly voiced his support for women's rights.

Last year, the Supreme Court overturned the 50-year ruling that allowed women in the US to legally access an abortion up to the point of foetal viability.

This sparked Bautista to speak out on the matter as he urged other men 'to be louder about the rights of women'.

"Be f***ing loud!” he added.

I think we can all agree that the world needs more men like him.