Fabricio Werdum admires how teammate Rafael dos Anjos stays composed around Conor McGregor, just don't expect him to follow suit.
At Wednesday's UFC 197 press conference, McGregor repeatedly interrupted Dos Anjos when the lightweight champion was answering questions and he took every opportunity to poke fun at the Brazilian.
Werdum would have handled the situation differently if McGregor tried that act with him.
"When (reporters) had a question for Rafael and he talked over him, this is no good," Werdum said at a media lunch, according to Dave Doyle of MMAFighting.com. "If it was my opponent, I would do this (Werdum makes a gesture like throwing water in McGregor's face, then makes a slapping sound), I'd say 'be quiet.' But that's not Rafael's personality. He's a smart guy, OK, he controls himself, he just thinks about the fight."
This isn't the first time that Werdum has ignored the adage of "pick a fight with someone your own size." The heavyweight champion has had an ongoing feud with middleweight champ Luke Rockhold and now he's upset with McGregor, who competes at around 100 pounds lighter than Werdum.
In this case, Werdum is simply sticking up for a close friend.
"When you have a fight with my friend, you have a fight with me, too," Werdum said. "We're a family. If you say something bad, you pay for this for sure."
Werdum has a rematch with Cain Velasquez for the heavyweight title at UFC 196 on Jan. 30.
