On Saturday, Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor will finally step into the Octagon in one of the most hotly anticipated fights of the year at UFC 194.
McGregor has stoked the fires ahead of the clash in Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena, claiming he will win…
On Saturday, Jose Aldo and ConorMcGregor will finally step into the Octagon in one of the most hotly anticipated fights of the year at UFC 194.
McGregor has stoked the fires ahead of the clash in Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena, claiming he will win inside a single round, per UFC:
When they go head-to-head, though, the war of words and all the posturing will go out the window. All that will be left is the two men in the Octagon.
Here, we take a look at what each fighter needs to do in order to come out on top.
ConorMcGregor
First, the Irishman would be wise to capitalise on his two-inch height advantage and four-inch reach advantage by keeping Aldo out of range and stopping him using his array of strikes—his quick, impressive jab in particular.
As MMA writer David Kano notes, McGregor‘s superior size could well prove a significant challenge to Aldo:
One of Aldo’s biggest strengths is his defensive capability—parrying or weaving away from attacks before countering with brutal efficiency.
To overcome that, McGregor will need to make full use of his arsenal—from the left straight to the right hook and the left round kick to the jumping knee—to keep up relentless pressure on the 29-year-old, which could tire out his opponent.
Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Snowden believes his left in particular to be his ultimate weapon—one powerful enough that Aldo may not be able to win this on the feet:
What could further help McGregor overwhelm Aldo is if he can force him toward the cage, thereby limiting the Brazilian’s movement and ability to avoid his powerful strikes—it would also allow the Irishman to utilise his pace most effectively.
In order to do so, the 27-year-old’s impressive array of front and spinning kicks can corral Aldo to exactly where he wants him.
If McGregor can negate Aldo’s almost impregnable defence in this way, his combination of pace, power and unrelenting stamina should see him triumph on Saturday.
Jose Aldo
To negate McGregor‘s size advantage and any attempts to force him against the cage, Aldo’s infamously quick, hard and accurate counterattacks will need to be at their best.
Indeed, that is where he often thrives—punishing his opponent’s boldness with a variety of unpredictable returns.
The Brazilian will most likely attempt to keep the fight in the centre of the Octagon and hit McGregor in the pocket, using his movement and dynamism to great effect and bringing the Irishman within range of his powerful leg kicks.
Aldo, who is undefeated since 2005 and the current featherweight champion, will probably enjoy the greatest success if he can get McGregor onto the mat and onto his back.
Not only is Aldo—who has a Nova Uniao black belt in jiu-jitsu—an effective wrestler on the offensive, but defensive wrestling is the one deficiency in McGregor‘s game.
SB Nation’s Luke Thomas believes this was exposed in his fight with Chad Mendes, while Snowden also highlighted it as a weakness in the contest:
Of course, getting McGregor in that position will be difficult, but if Aldo can do so, he would have a serious chance of winning.
The two fighters both boast great resilience and the ability to take or avoid punishment, so expect this one to go right down to the wire—and above all live up to its billing as a real thriller.
To the surprise of absolutely no one, things got heated between Conor McGregor and Jose Aldo at the UFC 194 weigh-ins. After both men checked in under the 145-pound featherweight limit, they took a drink and moved in for the staredown. Surprisingly, Al…
To the surprise of absolutely no one, things got heated between Conor McGregor and Jose Aldo at the UFC 194 weigh-ins. After both men checked in under the 145-pound featherweight limit, they took a drink and moved in for the staredown. Surprisingly, Aldo took a subtle shot at McGregor, by impersonating his signature karate stance.
You can check out a video here, courtesy of Fox Sports:
McGregor was not a fan of Aldo taunting him, and he feinted a couple kicks as he was being held back by UFC President Dana White. Aldo, however, held strong and continued to mimic the Irishman.
Aldo and McGregor have had a testy relationship since the latter first joined the UFC. After establishing himself on the European circuit, McGregor was brought to the big show and minced no words in regard to his intent to dethrone the Brazilian. As he came closer and closer to the title, he focused more and more of his talk on Aldo.
Some manner of incident was expected at the weigh-ins, but it’s surprising that Aldo was the one to initiate. While Aldo has remained largely quiet during the buildup to this fight, shrugging off everything from name-calling to personal-space invasion, McGregor has forced a reaction out of him on a few occasions.
The most notable example? The now-infamous moment when McGregor stole Aldo’s belt during a question-and-answer session in Dublin, Ireland. Aldo is rarely anything other than stone cold, so seeing him actively take a mental swipe at McGregor is beyond unusual.
The fight is set to go down Saturday night in the main event of UFC 194. Make sure to keep an eye out on Bleacher Report’s coverage during and after the fights.
If you love MMA, you’re probably stoked for UFC 194 on Saturday. The undisputed UFC Featherweight Title matchup between champion Jose Aldo ($9,500) and interim belt holder “The Notorious” Conor McGregor ($9,900) is perhaps the most anticipated fight in…
If you love MMA, you’re probably stoked for UFC 194 on Saturday. The undisputed UFC Featherweight Title matchup between champion Jose Aldo ($9,500) and interim belt holder “The Notorious” ConorMcGregor ($9,900) is perhaps the most anticipated fight in the promotion’s history.
You may even have a rooting interest or a fighter you’re leaning toward in the way of a prediction. That’s also natural. Despite the interest many have in the main event, it seems inadvisable to use a lineup spot on either man.
If pressed to draft one in a DraftKings contest, McGregor would be the most logical pick.
This logic isn’t rooted in a prediction that the Notorious one will win. In fact, it’s quite the contrary. The advice is born from an understanding of DraftKings MMA scoring and the fighter’s likely path to victory.
A McGregor victory would probably rack up more fantasy points. If he wins, the end is probably going to come quickly. That means the people who are biased or bold enough to pick the outspoken Irishman will cash in. That explains why McGregor averages 100.6 fantasy points per fight, compared to 74.7 for Aldo, per DraftKings.
If Aldo wins, it’ll probably be on the strength of his jiu-jitsu skills and overall well-roundedness as a fighter. That type of victory can take more time to materialize. In DraftKings MMA, swiftness of victory equals more points, and more points lead to more money.
Though Aldo is my pick to win, McGregor‘s skills and presence create enough doubt to deter a recommendation to draft the Brazilian—even at his reasonable DK salary. His potentially modest point total in victory is the other determent.
How can this lack of aggressiveness toward the main event be prosperous in a DK contest?
Take a look at the optimal picks for UFC 194. You’ll see there are more than enough affordable options to choose from aside from the compelling main event.
John Makdessi ($10,300)
Despite coming off a TKO loss in his last fight to Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in May, John “The Bull” Makdessi is still a smart pick on Saturday against Yancy Medeiros.
Few fighters in the lightweight division have the striking prowess to get the best of Makdessi on the feet. Medeiros‘ past fight strategies suggests he may try his hand at trading with the Bull. Medeiros lost his last fight as well, as he was overwhelmed and knocked out by a rejuvenated Dustin Poirier in June.
He did go into the fight with Poirier on the back of two consecutive wins by submission, but Medeiros seems to prefer to stand and fight. According to FightMetric, the 28-year-old has never attempted a takedown in any UFC fight. The same can be said for Makdessi.
While Medeiros will enjoy a sizable two-inch height and seven-inch reach advantage, Makdessi‘s boxing is excellent and should provide him the angles to circumvent the length disparity. He employs solid head movement and it has led to a higher striking defense rating (72 percent to 55) than his Hawaiian opponent.
In a fight that seems destined to end in a stoppage, Makdessi is the fighter to draft.
Kevin Lee ($10,800)
Drafting Kevin Lee should be the biggest no-brainer pick in the event. The 23-year-old Grand Rapids, Michigan, native known as the Motown Phenom is one of the UFC’s brightest young stars and a rising threat in the lightweight division.
He’ll be opposed by veteran Brazilian Leonardo Santos. Lee’s best fighting attribute is his wrestling. Those skills are augmented by his speed and explosiveness. Santos has demonstrated good takedown defense in his career (86 percent), but he’s yet to face a wrestler as talented as Lee.
Santos doesn’t bring a ton of striking pop into the Octagon. He has just one win by KO in his career, per Sherdog.com. He is an accomplished submissions fighter with nine wins via tapout.
As long as Lee is patient and disciplined once he gets the fight to the ground, he should pile up significant strikes en route to a TKO victory, or a lopsided unanimous-decision win that includes a ton of points for his ground-and-pound work.
Gunnar Nelson ($9,300)
The most undervalued fighter on the card is Gunnar Nelson. His opponent, Demian Maia ($10,100), is worthy of respect, but he is a one-dimensional fighter.
Beyond his world-class submission skills, Maia doesn’t do anything else above average in the Octagon. It just so happens that he’s able to win because he’s usually so much better than his opponents in that.
Nelson is an exception. His grappling is almost at Maia’s level, and his striking is leagues ahead of the Brazilian’s. That was clear in Nelson’s last fight against the powerful Brandon Thatch.
A one-two combination sent Thatch to the canvas, and Nelson pounced on him to secure the submission win via rear-naked choke. Striking wasn’t always a major part of Nelson’s repertoire, but it’s clear he has focused his development on that aspect of his game.
Look for him to utilize his striking en route to a unanimous-decision victory over Maia.
JacareSouza ($10,200)
Yoel Romero is a scary finisher with great athleticism, wrestling technique and raw power, but he doesn’t stand much of a chance against a Brazilian jiu-jitsu master like Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza.
Jacare isn’t a freak athlete like Romero. However, it’s not as if Souza is a stiff, or a fighter who is physically weaker than most in his division. What he lacks in freakish athleticism, he more than compensates for with flawless technique and relentless pursuit of submission wins.
There will be some initial danger for Souza when Romero is fresh. Romero’s power will be at its most dangerous in the first round. After a few scrambles, he has shown the tendency to tire in his bouts and to get careless with his defense.
Because of this, Jacare will get the bout to the ground at some point. When he does, he will show his superiority on the mat as he wears down Romero. A stoppage win via submission or TKO from ground-and-pound strikes is a likely result for Souza.
Luke Rockhold ($9,400)
Few champions have proved their mettle as much as middleweight titleholder Chris Weidman. He’s beaten Anderson Silva twice, handled Lyoto Machida and mauled Vitor Belfort.
Even with those impressive victories under his belt, Weidman has never faced an opponent as good or well-rounded as Luke Rockhold. The challenger is better at this stage of his career than Silva, Machida and Belfort were when they faced Weidman.
His athleticism and creativity as a striker is on par, or superior to what Machida brought to the Octagon, but his ground game is going to be the aspect of his arsenal that surprises people.
It shouldn’t be news, considering Rockhold has won his last two fights by submission over Machida and Michael Bisping. Most give Weidman a huge edge on the ground.
UFC bantamweight Chris Holdsworth was one of several fighters and trainers asked to pick a winner of the fight. He seemed to be among those expecting Weidman to have his way on the ground. Per Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com, Holdsworth said:
My heart is telling me Weidman. I think Rockhold is a very well-rounded fighter who poses a threat everywhere, but I think Weidman has better wrestling and his ground game is tremendous. A lot of people underestimate his grappling and, as you can see, his standup has been looking better each fight. He knocked out Anderson Silva and you can say it was a fluke, but he’s got knockout power.
Perhaps it is Rockhold’s ground game that is being underestimated. Weidman is very respected for his wrestling prowess—and rightfully so—but Rockhold is strong and skilled enough to find an opening for his high-level submission game. He won’t simply stay on the mat while Weidman pounds on him the way Belfort did.
Rockhold isn’t just going to beat Weidman, he’s going to shock people with how easy he makes it look. Mark Rockhold down for a third-round win by submission.
MMA fans are more diverse than ever, but UFC 194 has managed to capture the imagination of all, and it’s not hard to see why when you look over the card.
The preliminary card is packed with names. Interesting TUF winners like Warlley Alves and Co…
MMA fans are more diverse than ever, but UFC 194 has managed to capture the imagination of all, and it’s not hard to see why when you look over the card.
The preliminary card is packed with names. Interesting TUF winners like WarlleyAlves and Court McGee set the stage for potential contenders in Tecia Torres and Urijah Faber. The main card features three bouts with Top 10 names, including Max Holloway, Ronaldo Souza and Demian Maia.
Oh, and the double-shot of title matches in Chris Weidman vs. Luke Rockhold and Jose Aldo vs. ConorMcGregor? It doesn’t get much better than that.
The final free taste of these fights comes today at the weigh-ins, and we’ll be here to give you the live play-by-play. Just more 30 hours, people!
UFC 194 on Saturday features two of the biggest title fights in UFC history, as Conor McGregor challenges Jose Aldo for the featherweight belt and Chris Weidman defends his middleweight strap against Luke Rockhold.
I caught up with UFC color …
UFC 194 on Saturday features two of the biggest title fights in UFC history, as ConorMcGregor challenges Jose Aldo for the featherweight belt and Chris Weidman defends his middleweight strap against Luke Rockhold.
I caught up with UFC color commentator, Fox Sports analyst and former UFC middleweight Brian Stann to break down the two most important fights of the weekend.
Patrick Wyman: Let’s start with Aldo-McGregor. It seems like the two real keys to the fight are where in the cage the fight is going to take place—whether it’s going to be toward the fence with McGregor pushing Aldo back or out in the middle, where Aldo would probably prefer it—and the pace at which they fight, with McGregor preferring to work much faster than Aldo. Who do you think wins those battles?
Brian Stann: I think it really depends on which Jose Aldo shows up. We know what ConorMcGregor is going to do. He’s a mentally strong fighter despite all the hype surrounding him, and he’s created massive stages for a guy who only has a few UFC fights. He’s lived up to it every time. I fully expect him to step forward from the first bell to try to implement his game plan.
We’ve seen Aldo sit back a little bit and coast in several of his title defenses, but then we’ve also seen him get aggressive. Most of the time when we’ve seen him get aggressive is when guys try to back him up, so my best guess is that McGregor is going to force an aggressive Aldo.
Then the question becomes, if they’re both going to try to push forward, who’s going to win? Who’s going to land the first shot that really hurts the other guy? The guy who gets hurt will be the first one to angle off and not put out as much pressure.
PW: So speaking of Aldo getting aggressive, do you think it should be his goal to try to fight McGregor in the pocket—to just stand his ground and fire back when McGregor tries to move forward?
BS: I think he does want to get in close; Conor is so big and so long.
The other factor that I’m sure many people are talking about are leg kicks. [Because of his wide stance] Conor‘s leg, being out there as much as it is, is a real factor.
Now if I were McGregor, I’d bait him and want him to kick the leg, and as soon as he goes for it, raise the leg and check. If he does that, just like against the Korean Zombie, we won’t see many leg kicks. Without that blistering leg kick, Aldo is a different fighter. He can hurt you with his other weapons—the left hook, for example—but in a war of attrition, the best thing he has is that leg kick.
I think that is going to be a real key—whether Conor defends that leg kick early and tries to take it out of the equation. Because Jose kicks so hard, if Conor checks one, the likelihood that Aldo hurts himself is so high.
The other part of the equation that a lot of people are forgetting is Aldo’s takedowns. When he fought the Korean Zombie, when he fought Ricardo Lamas, we saw a lot of takedowns. His coaching staff and his training partners have spoken about this fight in particular, and they’re very confident in his offensive wrestling.
Most people only see the defensive side of it; we just forget, mostly because those fights weren’t that exciting, that he can get inside and that he has some really good body-locks, good trips, takedowns against the fence.
There are guys who are good on the ground, and there are black belts on the ground. Aldo is world-class, and that could be a real X-factor as well.
PW: So on that note, McGregor‘s coach John Kavanagh talked about him having hurt his knee prior to the fight with Chad Mendes and said that this affected his ability to drill live wrestling. Even if that’s the case, it doesn’t really explain why McGregor was so inactive off his back against Mendes, right?
BS: Exactly, though part of the injury could have affected his ability to utilize the butterfly guard. Most guys who are really experts at getting off their back, for example Michael Bisping, rely on at least one butterfly hook.
I use it often as well. If I want to get back to my feet, I use my guard to create a little bit of space by pushing off the hips, insert the butterfly hook and use that to scoot back to the fence where I can get my underhook.
If Conor‘s knee was hurt, maybe he just couldn’t go for that. Or he may just have been overly comfortable on his back, thinking, “Hey, Chad’s gonna gas, I’ll let him wear himself out a little bit and hopefully take him out in the later rounds.” There could have been a lot of factors in that matchup.
The interesting part here is whether Conor drills well to get right back to his feet, Jose isn’t going to have the kind of instant top pressure that someone like Chad Mendes would have. Jose has a more jiu-jitsu-based top game: They take you down, and then they take a second where they really have to solidify the position.
I’ve always thought they were easier to get up on, whereas wrestlers, when they take you down, they immediately scramble to a really heavy position, and you have to work a lot harder to get back to your feet.
There are so many fun things to break down that we just haven’t seen from McGregor yet. The only thing we really have to go with on the ground for him is the fight with Chad, who has a much different style of top game than Jose Aldo.
PW: It seems like Mendes, for as good a wrestler as he’s been over the course of his career, hasn’t really been a violent top player. He’ll take guys down and use it as a breather, but against ConorMcGregor he was the most violent we’ve ever seen him from top position. He really managed to posture up and do quite a bit of damage. Conversely, that’s something we’ve seen from Aldo all along: Pretty much whenever he has gotten on top, he’s postured up and managed to land hard shots. Do you think that bodes poorly for McGregor?
BS: It absolutely does. When we look back at Aldo’s jiu-jitsu career, before he started fighting, he submitted guys who are considered some of the very best in the world right now. He had to leave it because there was no money in it, but that’s the level of ground game he has. When you talk to coaches at Nova Uniao, they tell you that Aldo rips through people at that gym, and those are high-level, quality guys.
Any one of us who breaks down tape on Aldo can see that he’s arguably the best athlete in the UFC. You’ve got guys like him, you’ve got guys like Yoel Romero, with their explosiveness, their speed, their fast-twitch ability, and it’s really impressive to watch them work. Jon Jones, Georges St-Pierre, too. I’d put Jose Aldo up there with every single one of them.
PW: Do you have a prediction for this fight, or would you rather keep that under wraps?
BS: From the film study I’ve done right now, I’d give a slight edge to Aldo. All of that being said, I have one caveat.
We cannot take for granted the mental game of McGregor. I think that side is a fantastic component that you can’t analyze. He gets in your face, he trash-talks you, you hit him and he tells you that was nothing.
Through his interviews before the fight, he’s looking to plant those seeds of doubt, and then when he gets you into the Octagon and stars trash-talking you, he’s watering those seeds and waiting for the doubt to manifest itself. He works on it and works on it and works on it, and then all of the sudden, Chad gets tired and Conor wins.
I believe he had Dustin Poirier defeated before the fight even started. I remember watching him before he walked out to the Octagon, and he wasn’t there. That wasn’t the same Poirier that I saw fight in New Orleans in the fight that I called last June.
That’s a factor and a component that Aldo is going to have to overcome as well, and it can’t just be anger-based; it can’t just be “Hey, I’m mad, he touched my belt, he insulted my country, I’m gonna get him.” Many times, we’ve seen that anger is not the appropriate emotion to use inside the Octagon in a five-round fight against a world-class opponent.
PW: I feel like we could talk about just this matchup all day, but there are just so many good fights to break down, so let’s move on to Weidman-Rockhold.
With Aldo-McGregor it seems fairly clear what the major battles are going to be—pressure, pace, whether Aldo can hit takedowns, etc.—even if we don’t know who’s going to win them. On the other hand, I have no earthly idea what Weidman-Rockhold is going to look like. After your film study, how do you think this is going to go down?
BS: This fight, for guys like me and you who are into technique and love the technical analysis, is our dream. We can analyze this and say it’s going to go one of 30 different ways; there are going to be a few people who guess right, but honest to God, this is a coin-toss of a 30-sided coin.
In my opinion, this is the best middleweight title fight we’ve ever had, and that includes Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman, which many people will argue over until they’re blue in the face.
But when you look at the people Rockhold has defeated and how he’s done it after the VitorBelfort fight, you’ve got two guys who are the most skilled in every area we’ve ever seen. While Rockhold‘s striking isn’t on par with Anderson Silva’s, his wrestling game is better, and he’s better on the ground as well.
The edge in wrestling goes to Chris. He is going to go out there, very similar to how he did in the early rounds against LyotoMachida, and he’s going to want to get right in Luke’s face—to put pressure on him and start making him nervous, to take away the poise that he has.
When he puts that pressure on Rockhold, when he starts punching that hornet’s nest, he has to be careful. Rockhold is one of the very best strikers in the UFC when he’s going backward. A lot of guys felt well going forward; Rockhold has knocked guys out going backward.
His kicks are notorious; I’ve talked to a lot of people who train with him, and even guys who say, “Don’t say my name, I don’t want him to know, but when I sparred that guy every time he kicked me I lost the will.” And Rockhold has fought this style before: He beat Jacare, he beat Tim Kennedy—and that was a younger, less dynamic Luke Rockhold.
Chris has to find a way to consistently get him down and mix it up, because without the takedowns Chris’ striking is good, but it’s not on par with Luke’s. What could make Chris look better as a striker and surprise people, like ChaelSonnen surprised Anderson Silva, is the threat of his takedown opening up his strikes.
He has to be active in both arenas first. He can’t just go out there and strike with him like he did with Machida; this guy is a little bit too powerful for that. He has to mix both in.
PW: So even if he’s not going to complete the takedown, he needs to use the threat of the level change and the forward movement to open up his shots upstairs?
BS: Exactly, and if he really pushes for it, he’s going to get the takedown. Chris’ mixed martial arts wrestling is fantastic, and I think he can get Luke down.
Then the real fun part begins. Chris executes ground-and-pound pretty ruthlessly. I’ve never seen a guy posture up the way he did against Anderson Silva, because the risk of him getting back up is so great if you give him that space. But Chris didn’t care; he was really trying to knock out Silva with his ground-and-pound. He was just that comfortable with wrestling him back down to the ground if he tried to get up.
Will Chris be that confident with Luke, with a guy who can wrestle as well and is also very tricky on the ground? Will he unleash, or will he try to stay a little bit tighter and grind the fight down a little bit more? That’s what I wonder.
And when Luke tries to get back up, Chris is really tricky. He can work to a cradle or a front headlock, and he’s difficult from that position. On the other hand, if you try to play in Luke’s guard, he catches you when you try to pass. There are a lot of tricks these guys have on the ground, and I’m hoping the fight plays out on the ground a little bit so they can showcase just how well-rounded they are.
PW: It’s a really fascinating matchup in the in-between spaces where they’ll be scrambling. On that note, do you think it’s better for Weidman to shoot with Rockhold up against the cage or in open space? If he shoots up against the cage, Rockhold is a great cage wrestler and it’ll be hard to get him down, but if he shoots in open space, he risks running into Rockhold‘s front headlock game.
So it ends up being a Catch-22 situation of where you can force Rockhold to go on the ground to have some sort of edge on him.
BS: The best space is in the middle of the Octagon. Chris’ best bet is to try a high crotch dump in the middle of the Octagon and try to catch him off guard. When Luke fought Jacare, it was a lot of takedowns against the fence; Luke is so good at defending them there, and he uses it to walk right back up.
I think it’s important for Chris to try to take him down in the middle of the Octagon, though he’s going to be pressuring him, and he’ll want Luke’s back close to the fence for those strikes as well. I’m sure he’s going to try to attempt takedowns there, but don’t look for the double there; pick him up, turn around and drop him in the middle of the Octagon.
Patrick Wyman is the Senior MMA Analyst for Bleacher Reporter and the co-host of the Heavy Hands Podcast, your source for the finer points of face-punching. He can be found on Twitter.
Before things get any crazier, pause for a moment to consider what Conor McGregor has already accomplished.
As McGregor takes the cage on Saturday to fight Jose Aldo for the featherweight title at UFC 194, it’s worth remembering that seven years …
Before things get any crazier, pause for a moment to consider what Conor McGregor has already accomplished.
As McGregor takes the cage on Saturday to fight Jose Aldo for the featherweight title at UFC 194, it’s worth remembering that seven years ago he was working as a plumber, changing pipes and unclogging toilets at home in Dublin.
The rise, you might say, has been meteoric. Two-and-a-half years and six fights into his UFC career, he stands on the brink of history.
McGregor will find himself across the cage from the greatest 145-pound MMA fighter of all time this weekend with the chance to validate the self-promotional house of cards he’s built himself since arriving on the big stage.
One of the UFC’s largest pay-per-view audiences of the year is expected to tune in to see if he can do it.
He’ll likely net a seven-figure payday from the event and already has potential big-money fights lined up for later in two different weight classes.
Maybe—just maybe—he’ll leave Las Vegas with the actual, bona fide UFC title around his waist, too.
His fight against Aldo will cap a week during which the UFC puts on three events on three consecutive nights. There will be around 30 fights, all leading up to their long-awaited clash.
It’s almost enough to make you think McGregor has already won.
All of this is because of him, after all.
All because of McGregor and his mouth.
Of course, he couldn’t have done it without Aldo (7-0 UFC, 25-1 overall). The Brazilian’s spotless six-year, 10-fight reign over the featherweight division dating back to the old WEC days made him the perfect target. His ice-cold demeanor and assassin’s glare made him the perfect foil.
But, really, McGregor gets the credit here. He’s almost single-handedly launched their beef into the annals of the UFC’s all-time greats. We haven’t even seen the fight yet and it already belongs right up there with Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen and Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock.
McGregor’s unorthodox, left-handed striking style has rocketed him to 6-0 in the Octagon (18-2 overall), but it was his work on the microphone that made him a revelation.
From the start, the Irishman seemed to understand innately what Sonnen took nearly a decade in professional fighting to figure out: Being one of the best trash-talkers in the world trumps almost everything else.
McGregor has blathered and fumed and by turns waxed philosophical throughout his short run in the UFC. From the beginning, it appeared as though his bosses knew he was going to be something special.
Fans seemed to know it, too, turning out in droves both in his native Ireland and abroad to establish him as one of the biggest stars in the sport in record time. The work he’s done comes laced with echoes of Sonnen—who spun the same variety of verbal magic en route to three UFC title shots before multiple drug-test failures ended his career.
So Sonnen knows from whence he speaks. Now an analyst for ESPN, he was in Las Vegas this week for the UFC 194 press conference. He told MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani that McGregor vs. Aldo reminded of him of the work he did opposite Silva before their two meetings at UFCs 117 and 148.
Sonnen also didn’t issue any rave reviews for the job Aldo has done to help:
It’s a one-man show. I’m watching Conor. We’re all tuning in for Conor. … It’s the McGregor Show, [but] it shouldn’t have to be that way. … He’s got a dance partner that signed a contract to do a certain job, and this is part of it. If I was going to ask a question today, that would have been my question to Jose Aldo. I would have said, “Jose, what are you doing here? Why did you show up today?”
It’s true that Aldo has mostly served as McGregor’s straight man during the lead-up to UFC 194, albeit a stunningly dangerous one. The longtime champion seethed his way through the “world tour” the UFC sent the two athletes on during the run-up to their originally scheduled meeting in July.
McGregor seemed to be having the time of his life on that ambitious press junket. Aldo appeared to be plotting his murder.
The spectacle climaxed at a press conference in Dublin, where scores of Irishmen—some of them already pretty far into their cups—turned out to call Aldo all sorts of names. McGregor ate it up, and near the end of the proceedings, he crafted what will no doubt be the iconic moment of this epic rivalry: He jumped over the podium and grabbed Aldo’s championship belt from his side of the dais.
By comparison, the lead-up to UFC 194 has been quite staid. To its credit—perhaps the first time in its history where it has erred on the side of subtlety—the UFC realized it couldn’t just call a do-over on all of McGregor’s antics.
That didn’t stop him from totally hijacking the organization’s “Go Big” press conference in mid-September. McGregor effectively took over that event, blasting Aldo, lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos and 155-pound No. 1 contender Donald Cerrone.
It was a smart play by McGregor, but maybe also the first sign that he was growing beyond the UFC’s control. In the wake of that appearance, he’s made grandiose statements about the size of his next fight contract and recently took to his Instagram to post, “I am not a company man. I am the company.”
Now comes Aldo, who—to this juncture—appears to be the only person with any hope of actually slowing the McGregor hype train.
He’s approached this feud with equal parts bemusement and frustration. As Sonnen noted, he’s been mostly tightlipped. He pulled out of their first intended meeting at UFC 189 with a rib injury, which McGregor and his supporters called cowardice, but he’s mostly radiated quiet confidence.
If Aldo manages to be the first to slay McGregor on the big stage, it may do nothing besides serve as a reminder of where the posturing ends and the actual skills begin.
But it won’t be the end of McGregor. If anything, Sonnen’s career stands as a testament to that. When you can talk a good game, matchmakers have a tendency to keep coming back for more.
That’s where McGregor’s true greatness lies. No matter what happens to him against Aldo, he’s fashioned himself into a promotional juggernaut. The big fights won’t stop coming for him, even if it turns out he’s not up to backing up the beef.
On Saturday, Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor will finally step into the Octagon in one of the most hotly anticipated fights of the year at UFC 194.