This weekend the UFC is producing Fight Night 70, and then they are off for several weeks until UFC 189 on July 11 for what is expected to be the biggest UFC card of all time.
The main event features the highly anticipated featherweight title defense for champion Jose Aldo as he faces the challenge of Ireland’s Conor McGregor. The fight line has been up for a long time at the sport books, as the match was announced early in the year and has been backed by the UFC’s biggest publicity tour ever. Aldo opened a considerable favorite, but the line has slowly been crawling closer and closer as money on McGregor keeps flooding in. Right now, roughly two weeks before the fight, Aldo is a (-125) favorite over McGregor, who is returning at (+105).
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After this weekend’s UFC event in Florida, you can expect the UFC’s media machine to kick into high gear in the run up to UFC 189. McGregor has proven to be able to handle the pressure of it all in commanding fashion. Aldo has a lot of seasoning as a champion and he has bene in very big fights before, but the Brazilian has definitely played second fiddle to McGregor in terms of the media.
There really is only one scenario that would leave the UFC looking bad in all of this, and that is if Aldo is able to get the fight to the ground fast and finish with a submission win. The ground game has always been considered McGregor’s weak point, and his two career losses have come by that route. One thing McGregor does have is size and athelticism and his entire UFC game has been based on not letting anyone take him to the ground.
If a stand-up fight develops, it is going to be a toss-up, as Aldo’s a proven machine in the stand-up department, but he has never faced anyone like McGregor. In high level wins over Chad Mendes, Urijah Faber and Frankie Edgar, Aldo had reach advantages that he will not have against the unorthodox McGregor. One thing is for sure, if McGregor wins, the hype we have all been feeling in the build-up to UFC 189 will be nothing compared to the noise we will hear after.
