UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier is a big, big wrestling fan.
The guy has proven on more than one occasion that he knows his stuff, and is never shy to talk about his love for the squared circle, so when he compares a current UFC fighter to a wrestler, he does it with good intentions.
It's difficult to take a comparison to 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin in a negative light to be honest, as the Texas Rattlesnake is one of the most universally loved wrestlers in WWF/WWE history, and Conor McGregor is who Cormier has likened to Austin.
Speaking to TSN in Canada [via FoxSports] Cormier suggested that the way McGregor is loved doing things that would see other fighters criticised is just like Stone Cold in the glory days of the WWE.
He brings more eyes. I think he's the anti-hero. He is 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin from 2000.
The guy that you're kind of supposed to root against but you want to root for. Everything that he does, before would have gotten people to boo you, but they've taken to it.
It's something different than what they're used to seeing that people love it. I think it's fun.
There is a Conor within in his character and there is a Conor outside of his character. The Conor outside of his character is a little bit different. As it's grown, as the character has grown, they are starting to merge a little bit but with us, the fighters, I think he still knows how to separate.
It's clear Cormier is a fan, and it's also kind of clear that he still doesn't understand why the fans booed his fight with Anderson Silva at UFC 200.
The comparisons to Steve Austin are hindered by the fact that the UFC absolutely love most of what Conor does, and we don't see the Irishman filling Dana White's car with cement of delivering his own "finishing move" with a sweet left hand to the UFC president's chin, but then again we can't predict the future.
[via Fox Sports]
