Chris Honeycutt has quietly positioned himself as one of Bellator MMA’s top middleweight contenders. He fights at next weekend’s Bellator 210 event but has his thoughts set on a rematch.

Honeycutt has long been one of the promotions most talented middleweights. But a recent change in training camps could see Honeycutt’s game go to the next in his upcoming fight.

“I’m down here in Huntington Beach with Antonio McKee at The Body Shop,” Honeycutt told BJPenn.com. “Antonio is a unique cat; He doesn’t run practices like your typical MMA gym does, that’s for sure.

I’m not a guru, I haven’t been around all camps but I’ve been around AKA (American Kickboxing Academy), the camp in Fresno [CA], Strong Style in Cleveland, then American Top Team down in Flordia. And what Antonio does, it’s almost like a completely different mindset as far as the training goes.”

Being away from home hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows for Honeycutt. One thing, however, that has made his transition that much easier has been his living arrangement.

“I’m staying with Chuck [Liddell] for the camp,” Honeycutt revealed. “He has a little apartment on the beach there that we are crashing at for his fight as well.”

Chuck Liddell has enlisted the services of Antonio McKee and The Body Shop to help him get in fight shape after his eight-year retirement. Besides bunking with ‘The Iceman’, Honeycutt just basically completed a full fight camp side by side a legend. But to Honeycutt, Liddell is as down to earth as they come.

“It’s crazy,” said Honeycutt. “If it wasn’t for Chuck being Chuck you would never know who he was. He is such a down to earth humble guy that you would think he is that guy on the weekend you hang out with. He even said himself he doesn’t get it.”

That’s all apart of ‘The Iceman’s’ appeal, in my opinion.

As for what the future holds for Honeycutt, he is hoping it’s a bit of the past. That is, he would love to get another crack at the undefeated Rafael Lovato Jr. Albeit with a twist.

“If he keeps winning I’d like to fight Lovato again,” revealed Honeycutt. “Hopefully he wins the belt, I’d love to be his first title defense. He got his hand raised in the first fight but it was definitely debatable. I have a feeling we will be seeing each other again.”

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 11/23/2018