Former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell has been keeping himself in the news a lot lately, and a lot of his attention has been focused on current 205-pound champion Jon Jones. Jones appeared on UFC Tonight and had some kind but pointed words for Liddell.
When asked if Jones had a response to Liddell‘s recent talk, “Bones” refused to insult “The Iceman” but said he was open to the idea of welcoming him out of retirement in a superfight. Via Twitter:
Super-fight alert: @JonnyBones just said if @ChuckLiddell wanted to come out of retirement he’d be down for a super-fight. #UFC
— UFC Tonight (@UFCTonight) April 23, 2014
While Liddell retired in 2010 following a brutal knockout loss to former middleweight champion Rich Franklin, he has rarely shied away from ripping fighters still in the sport. In recent months, though, he has focused on Jones.
Speaking Monday to Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour, Liddell took swipes at Jones’ refusal to take a fight with Chael Sonnen on short notice at UFC 151. For those that don’t remember, the situation arose when Dan Henderson went down with a knee injury two weeks before the fight. The UFC tried to replace Henderson with Sonnen, but Jones refused the pairing, leading to the cancellation of the event.
Tuesday, though, Liddell upped the ante. Speaking with Fox Sports, he said that in his prime he would have knocked out Jones with little difficulty.
Liddell has recently focused on Jones because his friend and former gym mate, Glover Teixeira, is slated to fight Jones on Saturday at UFC 172. Still, the retired version of Chuck Liddell talking trash is nothing new. Speaking to Brazilian newspaper O Globo (via Fighters Only), he said he would have beaten former middleweight champ Anderson Silva.
It goes without saying that the 44-year-old Liddell is obviously not going to come out of retirement. Still, feel free to theorize in the comments section about how the two would have matched up.
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