I hated Chael, HATED him during all the Anderson stuff. The trash talking before the first fight, the disrespect and whining after, the cockiness going into the 2nd. He was without a doubt the man I wanted to see punched in the face badly the most in all of mma. Then talking his way to a title shot against Jones like that a weight class up off a loss....
Since that second Anderson fight, he's grown on me. He trash talks, but no longer disrespects opponents. He makes no excuses for his losses nor rubs wins in faces. He seems like a genuinely good guy when coaching fighters and interacting with fans and the media. Then when the trash talking started up again with Wanderlei, I realized just how funny and entertaining it is. Then he turned out to be right on all accounts! His "talking his way into big fights" now looks more like he is willing and wants to fight anyone, anywhere, anytime, and is simply drawing attention from UFC brass if they would be willing to make the decision to make it happen, and to draw fan's attention to watch him and the rest of the UFC warriors fight.
War Chael.