Float like a butterfly, sting like an Irishman?
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) flyweight titleholder Demetrious Johnson is starstruck by the mixed martial arts (MMA) stylings of Conor McGregor, who joins "Mighty Mouse" on the UFC 178 pay-per-view (PPV) event this Saturday night (Sept. 27, 2014) in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Because "Notorious" reminds him of a couple of famous boxing kingpins from days gone by.
From The MMA Hour:
"I really, truly appreciate Conor McGregor's style -- his fighting style and the way he talks. The reason why is because he reminds me of a young Mike Tyson, a young Muhammad Ali, the way he talks. 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."
That's some pretty high praise.
Johnson should know a thing or two about being fast, as he's widely-considered the quickest fighter on the entire ZUFFA roster. And he's got power, too, knocking out Joseph Benavidez last December. "Mighty Mouse" is tasked with turning away Chris Cariaso this weekend in "Sin City," while McGregor challenges 145-pound stalwart Dustin Poirier.
And hey, if they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, they can sure make something out of McGregor.