UFC has seen its fair share of verbal battles over the years! Trash-talking does to a fight what salt does to food- it elevates and makes it more enjoyable. When done well, this feat of the fight game outside the cage can make stars like Conor McGregor, Chael Sonnen, and Colby Covington.

Of course, there is always the debate over ‘crossing the line’ and just how far fighters should go and what is and is not off-limits in trash talk. On one end is the brigade of combatants like Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson and Khabib Nurmagomedov, who are always respectful of opponents. And on the other end are the likes of McGregor and Covington who have no issues insulting their opponents’ family, country, and even religion.

And Covington, in fact, doesn’t just limit his barbs to other fighters but even famously threatened UFC lead play-by-play commentator Jon Anik last year. One of the reasons ‘Chaos’ may have done so is because there is nothing to hold him back. After all Dana White is a big fan of trash talk, as Henry Cejudo pointed out on his ‘Pound 4 Pound’ podcast.

“Mike Tyson said the same thing when I used to co-host [the] ‘Hotboxin’ [podcast] with him. And we’re with Khabib and I was just like ‘Hey, man like to what extent, you know, Conor was talking about his dead dad,’ I’m like ‘To what extent Mike did you do your trash talking? Did you have a level of really cutting things off?’ And he was like ‘Listen, man,’ the same thing that Dana White said ‘Listen, man, everything goes, yeah.’ But everything goes on their side,” Cejudo told Anik, who had joined him and Kamaru Usman on the podcast.

To be fair even Dana White thinks some lines shouldn’t be crossed, preferring his fighters keep families out of the back-and-forth exchanges which is a very different position from Tyson. ‘Iron Mike’ believes that there is no limit to verbal warfare and adds that fighters shouldn’t be criticized for allegedly crossing lines. After all, Mike Tyson has his fair share of trash-talking gems like “I will eat your children” and “I’m gonna make you my girlfriend” directed to his opponents. And to be fair, Tyson has purely business reasons for his take on whatever happens on the mic.

Why Mike Tyson thinks there should be no limits to trash talk

Trash talking is an art and it is not enough to just execute the deed. The trick is to execute it well! After all, Muhammad Ali became the biggest juggernaut in boxing in no small part because of his verbosity and way with words. Conor McGregor, of course, would repeat this feat in MMA half a century later. But what set both men apart from others was that they were able to do so better than anyone else.

Both had razor-sharp wits and a knack for coming up with memorable, meme-worthy barbs that live on in the annals of combat sports history. Not to mention it is great for business. For example, McGregor mocking Khabib Nurmagomedov’s family, religion, and country ahead of their UFC 229 clash may have rubbed many the wrong way, but it did pay dividends. After all, their fight remains by far the most successful in the history of the entire sport.

One of the earliest feats of mic skills elevating a fighter to superstardom came in the form of Chael Sonnen. This was around 2010, six years before ‘The McGregor Wave’ gained prominence. ‘The American Gangster’ talked his way to earn a middleweight title shot against Anderson Silva on two separate occasions. Moreover, ‘The Bad Guy’ even got a shot at Jon Jones for his light heavyweight title even though the man had not competed at 205lbs for 8 years at that point.

Colby Covington was famously about to be cut from the UFC when he decided to put on a villainous persona to try and create some hype around him. This one decision led to him briefly becoming one of the biggest stars in the promotion. So on the one hand, line-crossing trash talk is often looked down upon, but at the same time often promotes a fight more than really anything else. And that is why the question of just how far trash-talking should be taken remains unresolved. Do you agree with Mike Tyson’s views on trash-talking?