WWE’s Jim Ross says Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz are the Ric Flair and Roddy Piper of MMA

Jim Ross knows about show business. The WWE legend has over 40 years in the business of professional wrestling and Ross has seen what makes certain individuals shine brighter than the rest. Ross appeared on MMA Junkie Radio recently and spoke about the stars Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz fighting in the main event at UFC 196 on March 5th.

“It’s one of those intangible things,” Ross said (transcribed by MMA Junkie). “I had the opportunity to hire a lot of talent for WWE back in the day – some pretty good guys, as a matter of fact. But there’s an intangible ‘it factor’ that you have to feel. It’s a feel thing; you can’t quantify it like, ‘He’s the right height, he fits all the measurables and everything.’ It’s a matter of the ‘it’ thing where you are motivated to listen to what they have to say, you’re anxious to the next thing they say and when they’re fighting you can’t take your eyes off of them and want to be a part of that fight. You want to buy the pay-per-view.

“Looking at old wrestling terms, they’re like (Ric) Flair and (Roddy) Piper. They’re both great talkers and they know what to say, when to say it and what to say to piss you off. Diaz has done a good job of ruffling the feathers of every Irish person in the world. And he should, in a sensible way, obviously. That’s what they do. I would say, in this fight is Diaz the heel or is he the babyface? Or does it matter? Because both guys are going to have their camps and I think there are going to be a lot of people who aren’t necessarily fans of both, but they are going to be interested in the process and it’s going to be a heck of a fight.”