Aldo vs. McGregor

This is the official discussion thread for Aldo vs. McGregor. Let's see what you've got.

I like the way he broke down McGregors trash talk KO of Dustin Poirier

This fight will make Zuffa a ton of money so they will want a rematch if McGregor makes it out of the first round.

I don't think there'll be a rematch if Conor loses no matter how it goes because there's seriously a limit as to how long you can deny Frankie Edgar.

Even if Conor loses to the worse judges decision on the planet where he KO's Jose and the ref wakes him up to tell him he won by split decision I'm pretty sure they can have Conor wait one more fight for his next shot ...

I also think that after such a build-up, an immediate rematch is never a great idea if the champ hasn't lost but the UFC have shown they'll milk something dry instead of banking on it more by spreading it over a longer period and making a real not-forced story out of it (look what they did with JDS/Cain III).

If McGregor loses but has a competitive fight like Aldo/Mendes II or Aldo/Edgar, I don't think there will be an immediate rematch. However if McGregor gets clearly robbed, I don't see how the UFC wouldn't do an immediate rematch barring injury. There would be more interest and revenue for Aldo/McGregor II than Aldo/Edgar II after that scenario. 

I think there will be an immediate rematch if either McGregor loses in a controversial decision like Machida vs. Shogun 1 or if he wins, since Aldo has 9 consecutive title defenses (7 in the UFC + 2 in the WEC) and is the #1 P4P, and thus would deserve a rematch more than any other fighter.

This is a publicity fight through and through. I give McGregor a five percent chance.

Publicity fight as in it's the biggest fight for the UFC for this year and has gained a bit of public attention. Not sure who you would rather have fight for the title so bad. Only other remotely possible options are Edgar (already lost to Aldo and 2 of the wins on his current streak are a BW and way over the hill BJ), Holloway (Swanson is his only top 10 win), or Mendes III (not a fan of rushing trilogies, especially when 1 guy has lost both fights). None of those are anywhere near as compelling as Aldo/McGregor

* Edited at 05.27.2015, 12:51 PM ET *

A 5% chance? So are the sportsbooks being paid off to help promote this publicity fight and make it seem legit?  Because they've got the odds dead even.

^^^

The Sportsbooks stand to make or lose millions on every fight, especially one of this magnitude. They have expert analysts handicapping the odds. I don't always agree with them, but if they're this close, it's because the fight is this close. 

The big question mark around McGregor is whether or not he can answer the wrestler question represented by an Edgar, Mendes or Lamas. Aldo is not that fighter. He's a striker, and maybe the best in the UFC, but in a striking match, I'll take the guy who KO'd the golden glove Irish champ when he was 14 as having a good shot. 

Oh, not to mention the fact that he's KO'd 4 of his 5 UFC opponents, including Poirier, and soundly out-struck Holloway while sporting a torn ACL. 

If you think this will be a runaway fight for Aldo, you're in for a rude awakening.

All this talk about Conor and wrestlers reminds me if how for years all we "needed" was a dude who could put Jon Jones on his back.

People have a hard time believing in greatness, always chipping away at it with petty little unknowns and every time one of them gets disproven they cling to what's left even harder. With Jones is was "oooh, what's he gonna do when he faces an elite wrestler?", then he ****** Bader up and it was "ah, but Rashad is an elite wrestler AND has fast hands and KO power" and then "Machida is so elusive and funky" and so on and so on.

Conor isn't the kind of fighter you break down to "his striking's great", "his wrestling's suspect" ... he's a natural, he's no grappler yet he dominated Holloway, who may I remind you, NCAA DIV I beast wrestler wrestler Dennis Bermudez had a very hard time taking down and keeping there, by grappling pretty easily on a frickin' torn ACL. His grappling, like his striking is, before any of his training and hard work, a born talent and feel for a fight that can't be taught. Add that to the fact that he DOES work as hard as anybody, most likely harder and you get a perfect fighting machine. Also, before he tore his ACL he was dominating the standup over one of the best strikers in MMA (yes, that's exactly what Holloway is). Yes, he has beaten strikers, but he made those guys look like they didn't belong in the same cage as him. that isn't just "good striking", that's Greatness.

Whether he beats Aldo or not, I believe he's one of the special ones that come along once or twice in a generation which is why I feel that even when he does eventually face "the dreaded wrestlers" he's going make them look just as bad as the strikers did.

I really don't understand why people genuinely believe that McGregor is all hype. Watch his fights. He has demolished 5 people since coming to the UFC, two of them top ten guys. 

I may be on team Conor (even though I love Aldo too), but this is frickin' AWESOME!!

* Edited at 06.23.2015, 2:39 AM ET *

Siver losing to Kawajiri a few days makes Conor's last win even less remarkable.

Connor sleep with your sister or something?  You seem rather fixated on trashing him at every turn.

@rappinpap, then according to your logic, Holloway's obliteration of Cub Swanson and Poirier's kickassery a division above makes Conor's wins over them that much more impressive, amirite?

Also, you're forgetting a little something, Conor didn't beat Siver, he made him look like they didn't belong in the same cage (as he did Poirier and Holloway on a torn ACL), that's exactly what you'd expect an elite guy to do to a dude that loses to Crusher, no?