At long last, Featherweight champion Jose Aldo and his trash-talking Irish “interim” counterpart, Conor McGregor, will settle their score inside the Octagon later tonight (Sat., Dec. 12) at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The five-round, 145-pound world title unification match will serve as the UFC 194 pay-per-view (PPV) main event.
Aldo and McGregor were initially scheduled to battle six months ago at UFC 189. However, the Brazilian suffered a rib injury in training less than two weeks out from showtime and was forced to withdraw. It was a huge blow for UFC, which spent millions to promote an historic “World Tour” that hit “eight cities in five countries over the course of 12 days.” During that tour McGregor became increasingly unbearable with his insults and barbs, culminating with “Notorious” stealing Aldo’s belt on the dais in a wild scene on the final stop in the tour in Dublin, Ireland.
So, when Aldo was ruled out of UFC 189, the world’s leading mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion decided to create an “interim” title and invited top-ranked contender Chad Mendes on super short notice to challenge McGregor. Mendes performed admirably early, but his conditioning betrayed him after round one, eventually succumbing to a fight-ending technical knockout in the waning seconds of round two.
The marketing and promotional push for UFC 194 has been considerably dialed back in comparison to the aforementioned “World Tour.” However, it has not stopped McGregor from continuing his verbal warfare, which seems to not affect Aldo nearly as much as it did over the summer.
On the physical front, Aldo and McGregor are an interesting clash of styles. Despite his emphasis on “movement,” McGregor is very hittable. And that’s not a good thing when going up against a Muay Thai master like Aldo, who boasts explosive punches and debilitating kicks. Indeed, Aldo’s leg kicks seem to be a huge advantage in this match up, as McGregor is an accurate, powerful pressure fighter who will look to stalk the Brazilian around the cage and land knee-buckling bombs.
McGregor is huge for the division and he has crushing knockout power in his fists. He also has great footwork and tricky spinning attacks. If he connects, it could be lights out for Aldo. It will be interesting to see how long Aldo plays the dangerous stand up game, especially when he seemingly holds such a significant advantage on the ground. He is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu blackbelt under Andre Pederneiras and is an exceptional wrestler, nearly impossible to takedown.
In short, anything can -- and likely will -- happen once these two studs lock horns later this evening. As mentioned earlier, the bout is scheduled for five, five-minute rounds, but it would be shocking if this does not end early ... and violently. It’s just an incredible matchup between two highly-trained, and confident, masters of their craft.
The PPV-televised portion of UFC 194: “Aldo vs. McGregor” will begin at 10 p.m. ET tonight. In addition to the the main event, the PPV will feature a championship co-main event match between Middleweight kingpin, Chris Weidman, against top-ranked contender, Luke Rockhold. The UFC 194 PPV main card will also feature an incredible 185-pound No. 1 contender eliminator bout between “Jacare” Souza and Yoel Romero.
Prior to the PPV, UFC 194 will deliver eight undercard preliminary matches. The first three bouts will stream online via UFC’s online digital network, “Fight Pass,” at 6:30 p.m. ET before transitioning to television on Fox Sports 1, which will broadcast the remaining four fights starting at 8 p.m. If you are just a casual UFC/MMA fan who catches a handful of events here and there, UFC 194 is a must watch -- it doesn’t get much bigger, or better, than this.
In the meantime, get up to speed on all things UFC 194, including previews, predictions, interviews, breakdowns, videos, analysis and so much more by checking out the most comprehensive collection of stories available anywhere for “Aldo vs. McGregor” right here.
