“He reminds me of a young Muhammad Ali.”
UFC flyweight champions Demetrious Johnson has paid tribute to Irish fighter Conor McGregor ahead of UFC 178 in Las Vegas.
Johnson will headline UFC 178 when he takes on Chris Cariaso, but this fight is in danger of taking a back seat to the glamour tie of McGregor vs Poirier. Johnson is not exactly a fighter that will get your pulse racing despite being an extraordinarily effective fighter, but that hasn’t stopped him hyping up the featherweight bout even more.
Speaking on the MMA hour with Ariel Helwani yesterday, Johnson compared McGregor to former boxing greats Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali.
“I really, truly appreciate Conor McGregor’s style… his fighting style and the way he talks,” Johnson said. “The reason why is because he reminds me of a young Mike Tyson, a young Muhammad Ali, the way he talks.
Demetrious Johnson (left) has been impressed by the fighting and talking from McGregor
“Like, I look at him and I don’t see him talking trash. I look at him and I see him talking [about] what he sees, where he’s like: ‘Dude, I’m way faster, I move way better than you do, you’re slow, I’m going to hit you hard’… which, I believe all these things that he says are true.”
“Like, I believe that his fighting style is good, he understands fighting, and not taking anything away from Dustin Poirier… Dustin Poirier is a huge test… I can appreciate somebody who can talk that stuff and he’ll go in there and he’ll back it up.”
“I’m more intrigued by that fight because I think that fight has more stakes going into it, because it’s like, one, I’m pretty sure if Conor wins it, then he can be fighting ‘old man Swanson,’ as he called him, Cub Swanson next. And then, who knows, he could be fighting Chad Mendes or Jose Aldo for the title after those two fight. We’ll see.”
UFC 178 was built to be a stacked card, but excitement for the event has waned somewhat since the withdrawal of the outspoken pair of Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier. McGregor against Poirier is probably the most exciting fight left on the card, followed closely by Donald Cerrone’s match-up with Eddie Alvarez. These two fights should ensure that the UFC make decent pay-per-view sales on the event.
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Hat tip to MMA Fighting for the story.
