Chuck Liddell on Jon Jones' Twitter trash talk: If you’re going to go back at me, tag me

A mythical fight between a “prime” Chuck Liddell and the current version of Jon Jones has led to a war of words that just won’t die down.

After Liddell appeared on “The Fighter and The Kid” podcast and claimed that he’d have beat Jones (21-1 MMA, 15-1 UFC) in his prime, and could still give the former UFC light heavyweight champion a run for his money, Jones took to Twitter to respond. Among other things, Jones claimed that Liddell “should’ve fought smarter and saved some chin.”

Liddell spoke to MMAjunkie at the EA Sports UFC 2 launch party and was quick to point out Jones’ failure to tag him in the tweets.

“Funny thing about that; somebody showed me the other day but he forgot to tag me,” Liddell said. “I don’t follow him, so I didn’t see it. I don’t know – the interview, if he listened to it, I didn’t say anything bad about him. I wouldn’t be mad at him if he said he could beat me in a fictional fight in my prime. Is that going to bother me? No. But if you ask me, in my prime, I knock him out. Styles make fights. I wouldn’t have a problem hitting him. Sooner or later, he’d go down. He doesn’t hit hard enough to stop me and he’s not going to outwrestle me. Sorry.

“If you’re going to go back at me, tag me. Let me know you’re going back at me so I can respond. I just thought it was kind of weird.”

Jones returns to action at UFC 197 against champion Daniel Cormier after a suspension for his role in an April hit-and-run incident. The event takes place April 23 from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Jones previously claimed he’d “never been anything but nice” to the UFC Hall of Famer. Liddell shared that general sentiment, claiming nothing he said was personal.

Instead, Liddell said, he simply doesn’t enjoy watching the No. 1 ranked fighter in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA pound for pound rankings fight in the octagon.

“I don’t have anything against the kid,” Liddell said. “He’s had some problems and he’s had out of the cage problems. I don’t know what’s going on in his head with that. He’s a great fighter. It’s like Mayweather. Mayweather is a phenomenal fighter, I don’t like watching him. I don’t want to watch a guy outpoint a guy, do just enough to win and cruise. I don’t want a guy to pull guard in a fight with 20 seconds left that he’s won every round in because he’s worried about getting knocked out in the last 20 seconds. That’s not my idea of a champion.”

Check out the full video above.

For more on UFC 197, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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