It’s a great weekend for those of us who believe in using our fists to resolve conflict... and by "our" I mean Conor McGregor, who’ll use almost all body parts to try to beat Jose Aldo at UFC 194 and claim the Undisputed Featherweight Title.
As is usual ahead of any form of combat both men are talking themselves up however Chael Sonnen set tongues waging during the week by saying that both men believe they’ll lose.
Mark O’Toole has covered MMA since it’s infancy in Ireland. He has been coached by the likes of Chris “The Killing” Fields and Cathal Pendred, and has made light of Sonnen's comments about both men being afraid to lose: "The main point to takeaway from anything Chael Sonnen says is that Sonnen is trying to draw attention to himself. Both of these guys have been undefeated in the UFC. Jose Aldo has been the champ since the WEC was absorbed in to the UFC. These guys have been there and done it they’re not going to be afraid of each other."
There have been two build ups to this fight given the false start due to Aldo’s injury in the summer but could it suffer the Phantom Menace syndrome with a build up too big and hype filled for it to live up to? O’Toole doesn’t think that will be the case on Sunday morning. “What the UFC sells itself on, is an overall promotion rather than an entire card predicated on the outcome of one fight. McGregor has delivered in each of his fights. Each of them have been exciting. Some of them have been short, but exciting. They’ve all been big events surrounding the personality of Conor McGregor who’s been able to build it up.”
Even if Aldo v Mc Gregor doesn’t live up to the hype there’s the safety blanket of the middleweight bout between Chris Weidman and Luke Rockhold who O’Toole suggests has been looked forward to for year by some. Gunnar Nelson is based in Dublin and trains with McGregor. He has fought multiple times in Ireland, and is also on the card. Mark isn’t worried though about the main event. "Jose Aldo isn’t really known for taking backward steps" according to O’Toole who says that McGregor will be able evade and unleash if Aldo comes after him given some of the insults that have been thrown his way in recent months.
Mark O’Toole spoke to the Rewind Podcast and you hear that interview by clicking below and going about three quarters way in. Mark will join us from Las Vegas next Monday to look back on what we unashamedly hope is a McGregor win.
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