UFC 194: All you need to know ahead of Aldo v McGregor
Welterweight: Court McGee vs. Marcio Alexandre Jr.
Lightweight: John Makdessi vs. Yancy Medeiros
Lightweight: John Proctor vs. Magomed Mustfaev
Lightweight: Leandro Santos vs. Kevin Lee
Welterweight: Warlley Alves vs. Colby Covington
Women’s Strawweight: Tecia Torres vs. Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger
Bantamweight: Urijah Faber vs. Frankie Saenz
Featherweight: Max Holloway vs. Jeremy Stephens
Welterweight: Damien Maia vs. Gunnar Nelson
Middleweight: Ronaldo Souza vs. Yoel Romero
Middleweight: (c)Chris Weidman vs. Luke Rockhold- for the UFC Middleweight Championship
Featherweight: (c)Jose Aldo vs. (ic)Conor McGregor- UFC Featherweight Championship Unification Bout
The main card for this Saturday night has been labelled by many as one of the best cards to grace the UFC. With two title fights and three brutal brawls in store, here's the breakdown.
This night of Featherweights fights kicks off as Max Holloway (14-3 MMA; 10-3 UFC) and Jeremy Stephens (24-11; 11-10) christen the start off the pay-per-view card.
Holloway is on the heels of a seven-fight win streak. All by finishes. At just 23 years of age, he is the youngest UFC fighter to gather 10 wins under the organization. His last loss came at the hands of now Interim-champ – and headliner of this card – the Notorious Conor McGregor.
In that span, Holloway has wins over Cole Miller, Cub Swanson, and most recently Charles Oliveira. His last bout was a headliner against Oliveira in Saskatoon where a freak neck injury rendered Oliveira unable to continue. Holloway is equally dangerous on the feet as he is on the ground with 5.67 Significant Strikes Landed per Minute (SLpM), 69% Striking Defense, and 50% Takedown Accuracy.
Stephens is a long time vet at both Lightweight and Featherweight. He made the drop to 145 at UFC 160 with a decision win over Estevan Payan. He is 4-2 in the division with two finishes. In total, ‘Lil Heathen’ has five post-fight bonuses. He is also a known power striker with enough of a wrestling background to help him keep the fight standing. He has six UFC wins by KO/TKO and 16 total stoppages by strikes in his career.
Are you a grappling fan? Then this fight is for you as Damien Maia (21-6; 15-6) and Gunnar Nelson (14-1-1; 5-1) will compete in the Welterweight division.
Maia, a former Middleweight title challenger to Anderson Silva, is one of the most accomplished jiu-jitsu practitioners in the world. He has brought that prowess to the big time earning accomplished submission wins of the likes of Chael Sonnen and Rick Story.
He is a winner of three straight, all in his home country of Brazil. Since joining the ranks of the Welterweight division at UFC 148, Maia is 6-2 with the losses coming to Jake Shields and Rory MacDonald. He has ten career submission wins including a Rear-Naked choke win over Neil Magny in his last bout. In that fight, Maia allowed his opponent to only get in 11 strikes, none of which were Significant Strikes. He also only had one submission attempt, the one that finished the fight.
Nelson is also a very accomplished grappler with many accolades in his own right. In the octagon, he has fallen into a habit of Rear-Naked choke wins. Nelson is a winner of five of his first six UFC fights, four by Rear-Naked choke. The Icelandic standouts only hiccup came in a headliners role against veteran Rick Story at UFC Fight Night 53 in Stockholm. He lost that fight by Split-decision bout bounced back with another Rear-Naked choke win over Brandon Thatch at UFC 189. Nelson can take damage with the best of them (4.01 SApM) but ultimately wants the fight in his comfort zone; on the ground.
The Icelandic standout’s only hiccup came in a headliner role against veteran Rick Story at UFC Fight Night 53 in Stockholm. He lost that fight by Split-decision bout bounced back with another Rear-Naked choke win over Brandon Thatch at UFC 189. Nelson can take damage with the best of them (4.01 SApM) but ultimately wants the fight in his comfort zone; on the ground.
Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza v Yoel Romero
Third time's the charm for this fight as top Middleweight contenders Ronaldo Souza (22-3, 1 NC; 5-0) and Yoel Romero (10-1; 6-0) finally get together. The two have been scheduled to fight twice before at UFC 184 and UFC on FOX 15. ‘Jacare’ pulled out with pneumonia and Romero with a knee injury respectively.
Souza is another high-level submission grappler. He has taken the UFC Middleweight division by storm with eight straight victories, five of those within the UFC. He has previously fought for a title in Strikeforce where he lost to Middleweight challenger Luke Rockhold. He has seven finishes during his win streak, five by submission and two by KO/TKO. His striking has come a long way as his 2.20 SLpM and 1.94 SApM show.
As a former Olympic level wrestler, Yoel Romero has grappling accolades of his own. He held a professional record of 34-11 including a bronze and silver medal at the Olympics. Despite his background, Romero has reverted to his powerful strikes to win fights. He is on a six-fight win streak with five coming by way of KO/TKO. His last fight ended with a flurry of elbows to finish Lyoto Machida in a headliners role. Romero will throw more strikes, 3.51 SLpM, and more accurately, 55% Striking Accuracy, than ‘Jacare’.
(c)Chris Weidman v Luke Rockhold
For the Middleweight title, in the co-main event, is the champion Chris Weidman (13-0; 9-0) versus Luke Rockhold (14-2; 4-1).
Weidman is going for his fourth title defense since beating longtime champion Anderson Silva for the title at UFC 162. Silva was granted an immediate rematch and subsequently was TKO’d due to injury at UFC 168. Since those fights, Weidman has taken over the division with wins over MMA legends Lyoto Machida and Vitor Belfort.
His last defense was against Belfort where he weathered an early storm and came back with his own flurry of ground-and-pound while mounting the Brazilian. Weidman has yet to lose a professional MMA fight with 13 straight wins and 9 finishes. The former collegiate wrestler has never been taken down in UFC career and has averaged 3.75 Takedowns per 15 min.
Don’t forget though, Rockhold was the reigning Strikeforce Middleweight champion just before the promotion ended in 2013. When the UFC dissolved Strikeforce into their system, Rockhold was given a fight with Vitor Belfort to prove he could hang. That trial by fire ended when he was knocked out from a spinning heel kick. Since that loss he has four straight finishes with three submissions including a Rear-Naked choke over Lyoto Machida as a headliner at UFC on Fox 15. Rockhold has more impressive stats with 3.55 SLpM, 1.85 SApM and 1.6 Submission Attempts per 15 min.
This fight looks set to be a fiery encounter and would be a worthy contender for the main event were it not for the fact that the main fight is the most anticipated UFC bout of the last 12 months.
(c)Jose Aldo v (ic)Conor McGregor
Aldo v McGregor. The King v the Joker, supposedly. Finally, undisputed Featherweight champ Jose Aldo (25-1; 7-0) and interim champ Conor McGregor (18-2; 6-0) will meet. Many jabs have been thrown verbally, but that won’t compare to the volume of hits that will be thrown inside the octagon. The two were scheduled to fight for the undisputed belt at UFC 189 before Aldo was forced out with a rib injury. He was replaced by Chad Mendes and the two fought for the interim belt. McGregor won that fight with a now infamous second round TKO.
Aldo is the only Featherweight champion the UFC has seen. The Brazilian was the WEC champion after beating Mike Brown at WEC 44 before being promoted to UFC champion in the lead-up to UFC 123 and was scheduled for his first defense against Josh Grispi at UFC 125. He wouldn’t defend his belt until UFC 129. Seven defenses later and Aldo is widely considered one of the best fighters in history. Scarface hasn’t lost a fight in a little over ten years. Aldo is an all-round fighter with a fearsome striking prowess and a strong ground game when required. His 69.5% Striking Defense is tops in the division while his 91% Takedown Defense is second.
McGregor has taken over the MMA world like a hurricane. Just three years ago, the Irishman was on the prelims of a Fight Night card. Now he’s headlining million-buy PPV’s and $7 Million+ gates. Like his counterpart, McGregor has not lost in quite some time. He last saw defeat in 2010 to Joseph Duffy in Cage Warriors. Since that, McGregor has a Featherweight and Lightweight title in CWFC, an Interim UFC belt, and has finished 13 of 14 opponents. The Notorious has quickly climbed the ranks of the statistical leaders as he is tops in many categories. His 5.44 SLpM and +2.43 Striking Differential top the leader boards for the division.
Despite Aldo being the undisputed champion, McGregor is many bookies' favourite to unify the featherweight belts. Can he live up to the hype or will Aldo dismantle the Irishman, like he has dismantled every so-called "challenger?"
It's almost time. UFC 194, Aldo v McGregor. Hold onto your hats fight fans.
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