“UFC, I can’t stand. That, to me, is like a bar fight.”
In 2023, you’d think that the rest of the world has accepted mixed martial arts as a legitimate mainstream sport. But then you have those like Hollywood A-Lister Liam Neeson, who still embodies a rather old-school mindset like it was still 1993.
Neeson recently did a Q&A for Men’s Health where he addressed some fan questions, one of them about MMA. Here was his response:
“UFC, I can’t stand. That, to me, is like a bar fight. I know all the practitioners would say, ‘No, you’re wrong! The months of training we do…’ Why don’t you just grab a beer bottle and hit the other guy over the head? That’s the next stage from UFC. I hate it.”
He also had the same unflattering words for fellow Irishman Conor McGregor.
“That little leprechaun, Conor McGregor… oh please. He gives Ireland a bad name. I know he’s fit, and I admire him for that. But, I can’t take it.
“Next time I come in at Dublin Airport… ‘Neeson! I’ll f—ng show you!’”
The 70-year-old Neeson does have a boxing background. As he stated in this 2014 interview, he began training at the age of nine and “won a few titles” before deciding to quit the sport at 17 to focus more on amateur drama.
As for McGregor, he is slated for a return sometime in 2023 against Michael Chandler, whom he is coaching against in the upcoming 31st season of the Ultimate Fighter. However, he has yet to re-enroll himself in the USADA testing pool.