McGregor vs. Poirier

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

So can Conor beat Aldo now without any issue?

Yes, he will destroy him (Bane voice)

* Edited at 09.28.2014, 10:51 AM ET *

Welcome aboard @Mike, I saved you a seat next to the window ;)

* Edited at 09.28.2014, 11:18 AM ET *

Lol. McGregor's good, no doubt. I just can't believe people don't see Aldo's improvements. When he was WEC champ he had no jab, he just used it as bait to land a knee or uppercut. Aldo used to stalk his opponents without the ability to really cut off the cage, that has changed as well. No, he might not get the finishes he used to, but there are marked improvements in his game. Don't drink the Kool-Aid people; the demise of Aldo's greatness is being severely overstated.

I don't think Aldo's greatness is demised. I think he doesn't like doing this fighting thing anymore but is very good at it and it's his best option to maximize his income. So he does what he needs to do to stay champ taking minimum risks.

Looks like Conor has picked up on it too, which isn't surprising because, brash as he may be, he's a highly intelligent human being and has a knack for reading between the lines of a fighter's psyche. Part of the reason he knows that trash talking Poirier, Mendes, Cub and Aldo to some extent will get results while as people like Frankie and KZ would shrug it off so he doesn't bother with them. At least that's how I see it, I may very well be completely off track.

Thing is, I actually think McGregor is correct in his assessment of Aldo. He's been calling him basic. 

Other thing is, Aldo's basics are the best in the division, and arguably the best in the UFC. He's also got a fantastic sense of distance and timing, as does McGregor. 

Going to be an interesting fight if it happens. Conor likes to create his own striking and countering opportunities, whereas Aldo waits for the opportunities to present themselves. The leg licks would worry me most if I was in McGregor's camp. Dustin landed a couple nice ones that weren't checked, and Aldo's are up there with Alves's as the best in the sport.

I would probably pick Aldo to win, but Conor makes a solid case for why he could beat him. It's a fight i'm dying to see. 

@skelliher "Aldo's basics are the best in the division, and arguably the best in the UFC."

Anyone who tries to argue against that is an idiot. Jose Aldo is the best striker in the UFC, that's as simple as it gets.

@zarog 100% agreed. Why do people keep talking about Aldo declining when all I've seen is consistent improvement?

Idk but I knew when I watched McGregor fight Holloway that I wanted to see Conor fight Jose.

It becomes a tricky argument when you're saying he's the best striker. He has a good case, but he's not the most diverse striker. Most efficient, I'd say. Would be an awesome chess match. 

The thing about the leg kicks is that McGregor will have a hard time checking them without altering his stance. Poirier doesn't have great leg kicks and didn't even set them up much to land them against McGregor. That's a disadvantage of that super wide stance, it's hard to pick up that lead leg to check in time. Stand with your legs spread far like that and compare with narrower stance, widening out increases speed back and forth but limits how fast you can pick a leg straight up.

If he can't check against Aldo, he'll be doomed going into the later rounds. And Aldo sets them up well too, distracts with the jab and hook to get a good angle then just obliterates the leg. I don't favor McGregor in that matchup, and I doubt Aldo will stand in the way of his left.

Poirier did better than I expected him to against Conor. Poirier landed some decent leg kicks and a couple nice looping hooks to the dome, which gives me confidence that Aldo can do much worse to McGregor. I also wanna see McGregor actually have to grapple with somebody. Aldo's much better both in ability take down his opponent and defend the take down than anyone McGregor has fought.

I still wouldn't bet on McGregor against Aldo. Granted, we haven't had an opportunity to really see much of McGregor after his knee injury. Less than 6 minutes of cage time isn't much to go off. McGregor does present a couple unique challenges, in particular, his length and speed. I can't really remember a time when Aldo's been at a height and reach disadvantage, so that would be an interesting item to see play out and there aren't really very many fighters that I see with the speed McGregor has (only guy I can remember that Aldo's fought with similar speed is Cub Swanson, but 7 seconds isn't a very good sample size). McGregor dismantled the only elite striker I've seen him fight (Holloway) and I haven't seen him against an elite grappler (yes, Poirier has some slick jits, but his TDs are underwhelming) or anyone with a truly complete skillset; on the other hand, Aldo's dominated elite grapplers (Edgar, Mendes), elite strikers (Swanson, Hominick) and guys that had the complete package (Faber, Brown, Florian, Edgar, Lamas). Striking is a tossup simply because it's an interesting style match up (Poirier landing leg kicks leads me to believe Aldo's got the edge), the grappling is an unknown since McGregor hasn't really had to grapple with anyone elite (though if I had to pick I'd say Aldo simply because he's proven in this area and both of McGregor's losses have been more recent than Aldo's only loss and all of the losses between the 2 have been by submission), toughness is a complete tossup (Aldo fought with a kidney stone and a broken foot against KZ, while McGregor beat Holloway on a torn ACL) and stamina is also unknown as McGregor has never fought more than 15 minutes.

@mikeyg Completely depends. If Aldo loses to Mendes, it's going to a trilogy fight. If Aldo wins and wants to fight in December/January/early February, McGregor gets the shot. If it's mid to late February or later before Aldo returns, then there's a whole other question. Bermudez/Lamas and Edgar/Swanson are big fights in November. If Swanson wins, he gets the next shot, no question. If Lamas and Edgar both win, McGregor gets the shot. If Bermudez and Edgar win, then the situation is murky. Bermudez would be on an 8-fight winning streak and SHOULD get the shot, but McGregor's ability to hype himself would likely mean Bermudez gets skipped over.

"If Aldo loses to Mendes, it's going to a trilogy fight."


So McGregor's getting the shot then, that's cool.

^Lol. There's always a chance.....I agree it's a slight chance....but.....well.....I thought the same thing with TJ/Barao and Serra/GSP, so who knows.

Agree with you guys ... as mikeyg says, it comes down to timing. If Aldo comes out of the Mendes fight injury-free, I expect McGregor to get the call up for an early 2015 meeting. If Aldo is banged up, McGregor probably fights once more. 

Swanson/Edgar winner would likely get the Aldo/McGregor winner. We'll see how it plays out. 

As an Aldo and McGregor fan, based on sample size and what we've seen, the smart money has to be on Aldo. But I do believe McGregor has the style and potential to notch the upset, especially if he works on some stuff to counter the leg kicks. I give him the edge in the hands department and conditioning. 

If Cub beats Edgar I find it hard to believe he'll be leapfrogged and as much as I love Conor, it would be a travesty giving Cub's streak, both in sheer numbers and quality of opposition (which is already more than title shot deserving even without a win over Frankie).

Now if Frankie wins (which I expect to happen) I'm pretty sure Conor gets the shot based on the fact that Frankie already fought Aldo and Conor's riding a hype tidal wave.

I think that the best route to go would be to give the winner of Cub/Edgar the next shot and feed Conor the winner of Bermudez/Lamas so that he can shut up the "eh, he hasn't fought a wrestler, he's been babied by the UFC" people too before his shot at the title.

That's the best scenario I see that doesn't **** anyone deserving over on account of Conor's hype train.

That biggest problem in this whole thing is that I have a feeling Aldo's not gonna fight more than twice a year, so people are gonna have to take more fights and a lot of **** is gonna change... we might even end up with Backstrom fighting for the title by mid-2015 ;)

@yoss: Good points about McGregor/Bermudez, etc. Only thing about him leapfrogging Swanson is I don't really think you can consider it leapfrogging if he's given the shot before Swanson event fights Edgar. It's all about timing. Aldo fights four weeks after 178 and Swanson fights another four weeks after that. We'll see.