Five things to know about UFC 194: Conor McGregor vs. Jose Aldo
UFC 194 is shaping up to be another clash of the titans when Conor McGregor and Jose Aldo step into the octagon on Saturday.
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4 min read
Fight fans of a certain age will remember 25 years ago.
Back then in the ring, the toppling of Mike Tyson halfway around the world was followed five weeks later by a classic Las Vegas bout between two evenly matched welterweights -- Meldrick Taylor and Julio Cesar Chavez -- who occupied opposite ends of the rhetorical spectrum.
Fast-forward a quarter century, and it all seems strikingly familiar.
This Saturday night in Las Vegas -- four weeks after Ronda Rousey saw her aura reduced to rubble in a faraway hemisphere -- an unapologetic, brash challenger will enter the octagon with a taciturn champion far better known for in-fight deconstructions than post-fight sound bites.
Playing the role of Taylor 2.0: Conor McGregor. And suiting up as Chavez 2.0: Jose Aldo.
Here's what you need to know about the main attraction at UFC 194.
The last time Aldo lost, McGregor was 17 years old
Keeping with the "it's been a long time" theme, here's a look back at what was going on the last time the rugged Brazilian came out on the short end of a mixed martial arts tussle.
For the record, it was a rear-naked choke that did Aldo in against countryman Luciano Azevedo in Round 2 of a Nov. 26, 2005 get-together -- the same day that Pat Morita (Mr. Miyagi of Karate Kid fame) died at age 73, University of Texas junior Vince Young overcame two turnovers in a defeat of Texas A&M and Kanye West's "Gold Digger" enjoyed the final 24 hours of a 10-week stay atop the Billboard Hot 100.
McGregor, at the time, was in the midst of a teenage transition in the South Dublin suburbs, where he quit school, commenced a plumbing apprenticeship and began to recognize that he was better suited for a different brand of hard work.
"It was a rough time," he told the Irish Independent. "I did not like the life and plumbing did not interest me so one day I said 'f--- it' and I quit."
Yet, in spite of a pristine decade, Aldo is the betting underdog
An underdog, yes. But hardly a prohibitive one.
According to the line-setters at OddsShark.com, a $100 outlay on the 29-year-old will yield a $100 profit, while it’ll take a $120 wager on McGregor, now 27, to bring back an extra $100 if he wins.
As is often the case, the intrigue lies in the prop bets. The biggest potential payout on the board is rooting for a draw, where risking $100 will return a cool $21,000 if things wind up even. By contrast, you'll have to lay out $63,000 on it not being a draw in order to rake in a fresh $100.
Elsewhere, the presumably hot bets at 5Dimes.eu are on McGregor to win in Round 1 (+450), or Aldo to win a five-round decision (+420).
In case you'd missed it, McGregor likes to talk
He insults his opponents. He predicts brutal stoppages. And he may have topped himself in the run-up this time around by suggesting he'd tap out Jesus Christ himself.
But while some guys turn the chatterbox on and off as the microphones come and go, McGregor insists his almost perpetual trash talk is really what he's all about -- and not just a buzz-creating show.
"There is no persona. There is no act," he said on a UFC conference call.
"I'm only a man, I'm telling my opponent what I'm going to do, how I'm going to do it. I'm assessing and dissecting their game, their life, their mental approach, I'm dissecting everything, and that's it. It's no persona, it's no nothing."
And he, like Ronda Rousey before him, isn't shy about "Money"
Lest anyone forget, Rousey spent a good deal of time prior to her Holly Holm downfall discussing recently retired boxing champion Floyd Mayweather Jr.
She nudged him on domestic violence issues when winning as ESPY, then applied high-level calculus when suggesting she was actually paid better by the hour than the guy who Forbes magazine said raked in $285 million for 72 minutes of work in 2015.
But leave it McGregor to have a word or two, too.
"I respect his business. He's made a lot of money, calls himself Money Mayweather, he has done that bit well," McGregor told GQ. "I don't know the guy. But I know if we had a fight I would win. I could box against him, give him a fight, but he couldn't fight against me, it is a different sport, ours is a tougher sport. He would not last a minute with me because of the things we have to do which they don't do in boxing. Mayweather would not last a minute with me."
With a win, their future plans diverge dramatically
Though he's not confirmed it directly, more than one person has suggested that if Aldo wins Saturday night, he'll ride off into the championship sunset.
"I think he's done with it. And ready," his training partner, Andy Souwer, told MMAPlusTV. "Whatever he is thinking, it's his decision. But I think it will be good for him. Jose is (the top) pound-for-pound fighter. He will succeed this time also, and it will be a fairy-tale story. I'll put my money on it."
McGregor, on the other hand, views Aldo as barely more than a pit stop on the way to joining Randy Couture and B.J. Penn as a UFC champion in two weight classes.
"I will KO Jose Aldo and I will face the winner of the lightweight belt," he said. "So within the next two fights I will be a two-weight world champion. I'm carrying this whole damn game, and I love it. It feels light. But the game, I'm carrying it on my shoulders, but it honestly feels light to me. I feel like they don't see the squats with the whole game on my shoulders because it ain't nothing.
"Winners focus on winning, and losers focus on winners. So I'm a winner. I focus on winning."
