Three reasons why Jose Aldo will beat Conor McGregor at UFC 194
Jose Aldo will face off with Conor McGregor on Saturday night in a must-see featherweight title bout.
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UFC 194 will be headlined by the most anticipated bout of the year -- at least in the men's divisions -- when Conor McGregor takes on Jose Aldo in the featherweight title match.
The fight, which was supposed to happen in July before Aldo had to pull out due to injury, will pit the brash interim champion McGregor against the much less boisterous, but equally dangerous, lineal champion Aldo.
McGregor has, rightfully, dominated the headlines in the build up for this fight -- just as he did in the lead up to the scheduled July fight. The Irishman is a slight favorite to leave Las Vegas with as the title holder at -130 to Aldo's even odds.
While McGregor may be the public favorite and ever-so-slight favorite at the sportsbooks, here are three reasons why Aldo will be the one walking out of the MGM Grand Garden Arena as the UFC featherweight champion on Saturday night.
1. Defense wins championships: Aldo is among the most elusive fighters in the UFC. McGregor is a striker and Aldo only allows opponents to land 28 percent of strike attempts -- McGregor averages a 44 percent strike rate. It's going to be difficult for McGregor to tag Aldo with combinations to get him off balance and in a position for McGregor to finish the fight.
McGregor is not a skilled takedown artist, attempting only eight takedowns -- succeeding with five in his prior four fights -- and Aldo's opponents have succeeded only 9 percent of the time on takedown attempts. If Aldo can slip punches, McGregor will have a tough time scoring consistent points to win rounds.
2. All-around skill: Aldo has had success as both a striker and a ground technician. He has nine knockouts and has taken six unanimous decisions in his 15 UFC fights. Aldo can score with the judges and win rounds because of his ability to earn takedowns as well as land punches against McGregor. If this fight does end up going the distance, Aldo should have the edge on the cards because he'll be scoring points with the judges by being more efficient and working on the ground as well as standing up.
3. Experience: Replicating a title fight atmosphere, with all of the emotion and pressure, is impossible in training. McGregor has been in just one of these situations -- against Mendes in July -- and while he passed that test with flying colors, he's not as seasoned as Aldo.
Aldo has been in seven previous title fights and has ended them with knockouts as well as taking it to the cards. He has the patience to not try and run out and go for the knockout early if McGregor isn't giving him good looks in the stand-up game.
Where McGregor will be amped up and looking to end the fight early, as he's done with his previous opponents, Aldo will know that he has five rounds if he needs it. He can use McGregor's aggressiveness against him by playing quality defense and relying on his experience to take him the distance if needed.
Here are three reasons why Conor McGregor will beat Jose Aldo.
