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Chuck Liddell 'can't stand' Chael Sonnen's trash talk

Chuck Liddell 'can't stand' Chael Sonnen's trash talk

It never took much for former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell to get amped enough to fight. The retired legend is the epitome of a game fighter and let his fists and shins do his talking.

Perhaps that's why the "IceMan" says he "can't stand" the way fighters like Chael Sonnen use over the top trash talk to promote fights. Liddell likes Sonnen personally but can't get past his pro-wrestling type of antics.

“Chael’s a nice guy. I’ve met him and hung out with him. I like him, and he’s a nice guy. I can’t stand the way he promotes fights," Liddell recently told MMA Junkie.

“I understand what he’s doing; he wasn’t the most exciting fighter, so he made himself exciting by promoting the fight really well, and he got himself a couple of title shots for it. It works, but that whole crazy WWE-type stuff, that over-the-top stuff when you’re fighting a guy, doesn’t make sense to me, and I don’t like it.

“But it is what it is. Some of the fans like it, and it gets people to watch fights, that’s fine...Some of the things he said, as far as I’m concerned, are over the line.

"Unless you’re known as an actor or being a WWE guy, you can get away with some of that stuff because everybody knows it’s fake.”

According to "The Pit" fighter, promoting fights comes a distant second or third to fighting itself and being a man or woman with respect for yourself. For example, Liddell cited the recently aired fight on the set of The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil between former champion and Sonnen as an example of "The American Gangster" going too far.

“I’m sure [Sonnen] didn’t mean to start it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he crossed the line and Wanderlei took a swing at him,” Liddell said.

“Everyone has a line, and especially fighters.”

Do you prefer fighters like Liddell who like to let their actions speak for them or the wild-talking of someone like Sonnen? Let us know in the comments section.

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