Back when Chuck Liddell first met Conor McGregor, we don’t think The Iceman could have predicted the heights that the brash, young Irishman would reach.
Liddell came across McGregor for the first time when the Dubliner was 16 years old and since that initial meeting, Liddell has hung up his gloves and McGregor has earned the UFC interim featherweight title.
The UFC hall-of-famer has discussed in the past that he’s truly not a lover of trash-talkers in mixed martial arts but he revealed that Conor McGregor is an anomaly and that he’s a huge fan of The Notorious.
“Conor, I’m actually really looking forward to that Aldo fight,” Liddell told MMAjunkie Radio. “I’m a big Aldo fan. I’m not big with the trash-talking, but I do like Conor because he comes out and fights the way he talks.”
Liddell, who retired from MMA in 2010, was impressed by McGregor’s last outing in the octagon when he came back to TKO Chad Mendes in the second round.
“He came out right across the ring and started swinging (at Mendes),” Liddell said. “He wasn’t trying to dance around or not get taken down. He just came out swinging.”
Many have compared McGregor’s fight-hyping style to the promos of Chael Sonnen but Liddell believes there is a huge difference between the fighters.
“You want to talk like that, and you’re going to back it up by fighting like that? Fine,” Liddell added. “It’s not like Chael, where he talks all that before a fight and then tries to do the lay-and-pray thing. No.”
