UFC 194 is finally upon us. One of the best cards of the year will see Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor face off in a featherweight title bout, preceded by a highly anticipated fight between middleweight champion Chris Weidman and the dangerous Luke Rockhold.
There are five bouts on the main card, which is set to start at 10 p.m. ET, per MMA Mania’s Jesse Holland. Other notable fights include the middleweight battle between Yoel Romero and Ronaldo Souza and a meeting of skilled grapplers Demian Maia and Gunnar Nelson.
Here’s a look at the schedule for the PPV main card, as well as the projected winners and some predictions:
Aldo vs. McGregor
Arguably the most anticipated MMA fight of the year, defending featherweight champion Aldo and interim champion McGregor will finally come face-to-face on Saturday, five months after their scheduled meeting at UFC 189.
Aldo dropped out of that fight with an injury, opening the door for McGregor to win the interim title with a second-round TKO of Chad Mendes. Since then, the Irishman has waged a verbal war on the defending champion, and the buildup to this fight has taken on epic proportions.
Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Snowden is impressed:
Aldo has been undefeated since 2005 and has held the featherweight title since the UFC and WEC merged in 2010, per ESPN.com. There’s little doubt he has been one of the organisation’s most dominant fighters for years now, beating the likes of Mendes, Frankie Edgar and Urijah Faber.
He’s a master of the kicking game, highly skilled on the floor and almost impossible to cut off once he starts moving. There’s a reason Aldo’s only loss came via submission―if a fight goes the distance, his superior technique will see him prevail on the cards.
McGregor is a technically skilled fighter as well, but he’s nowhere near Aldo’s level. The 27-year-old relies on his raw power and creativity inside the Octagon, and so far, it has served him well.
As reported by Rolling Stone‘s Mike Bohn, he’s more than confident in his own abilities:
This fight will be decided by the four-minute mark of the first round. Anything beyond that will be a mere formality. I just don’t see him answering the bell for the second round. I can’t see his face or his body at the beginning of the second round. I see him KO’d inside one.
[…]
Within the next two fights I will be a two-weight world champion. I would like that Lightweight belt. I would like to go for that title next. I would like to go this fight, Lightweight fight and then decide what contenders are there in the Lightweight division and Featherweight division and then make the decision.
It’s easy to get swept away in McGregor‘s typical brashness, but from a tactical standpoint, McGregor makes a lot of sense. For all of his skills, he knows he’ll likely need an early knockout to walk away with the belt―Aldo is too good at making mid-fight adjustments to lose a decision.
Expect McGregor to be bold in the first round, taking risks no fighter should take against an experienced veteran like Aldo. He has the hand speed to trouble Aldo early, and it wouldn’t even be a shock if the Brazilian was rocked in the first round.
But you never bet against a man who has held the UFC featherweight belt since its inception. McGregor is a fantastic fighter, but Aldo is a living legend.
Weidman vs. Rockhold
It’s a little disappointing the middleweight title bout between Weidman and Rockhold has received so little attention, with Aldo and―especially―McGregor soaking up the spotlights.
Both are insanely talented fighters, impressive athletic specimens who have returned a level of excitement to a division that was dominated by Anderson Silva for years.
Bleacher Report’s Chad Dundas loves this matchup:
Fact is, I’m not sure the 185-pound weight class has ever seen two athletes the caliber of Weidman and Rockhold, let alone seen them together in the same cage at the same time.
These are two next-level specimens, the best of the best in their division, the pinnacle of MMA’s 22-year history in this country.
It’s just that neither one of them has been able to make people care about him yet.
Sure, Weidman and Rockhold aren’t the most exciting trash talkers―fans are hardly going to get pumped for a title bout when the two fighters treat each other like this:
Rockhold is an excellent puncher with a vicious left kick, while Weidman is a more rounded fighter who will likely seek to take the fight to the floor. His ability to block and catch kicks should be a big factor in this fight, although he will struggle to keep up with Rockhold if he decides to trade shots standing up.
This isn’t a classic battle between a puncher and a takedown artist, however. Weidman has plenty of power and solid kicking ability himself, and he has won four of his last five bouts by KO or TKO, per ESPN.com.
Rockhold may not have great takedown offense, but his submission game is spectacular. This fight has the makings of an instant classic and is incredibly hard to call, despite Weidman‘s superb showings since winning the title.
If there’s one safe prediction to make about this fight, it’s that it will likely be more entertaining and more dramatic than the featherweight bout set to take place after it. The champion is the favourite, but only by a razor-thin margin.
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