We’re finally less than a week away from watching Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor test their skills against one another at UFC 194. It’s not just a big fight; it’s a mega fight. It’s the kind of fight that has you salivating from the day it’s announced, and the anticipation only gets worse until it peaks as the fighters make their way into the arena. With respect to Ronda Rousey’s fights this year – which were must-see events strictly based on her presence alone, the UFC has put together two mega fights this year: Jon Jones vs. Daniel Comier to start the year and Jose Aldo vs. Conor McGregor to end it.
But what makes a mega fight? They can’t be completely manufactured by the promotion; otherwise, we’d see fights of this magnitude month after month. So, through the lens of Aldo-McGregor, let’s try to identify all the ingredients that go into the mega fight stew.
PROMOTIONAL MARKETING
While the promotion can’t manufacture a mega fight on its own, the promotional muscle needed to produce a fight like Aldo-McGregor is both substantial and necessary. The UFC often does a good job of not getting in their own way when a big fight comes along. But they deserve extra credit here for taking the next step and trying a few new things.
The first was the world tour marketing event back in March when the bout was originally scheduled for UFC 189. The UFC brought Aldo and McGregor through eight cities in eleven days. Every crowd was electric, and none more so than the start and end stops in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Dublin, Ireland. Fans at home followed along through nearly daily episodes of UFC Embedded, which produced countless GIF-able moments.
Aldo, of course, pulled out of the fight with an injury, requiring McGregor to fight Chad Mendes instead on short notice. Fortunately, for all parties involved not named Chad Mendes, McGregor proved victorious, and the fight with Aldo was back on. And the UFC decided to take another audacious step, making UFC 194 the crescendo of the “Go Big” marketing campaign and leading into it Saturday with additional fight cards on both Thursday and Friday. Fight cards that aren’t just for the sake of having them either. Thursday’s show, airing on Fight Pass, features rising stars Paige VanZant and Sage Northcutt (not to mention VanZant’s opponent, Rose Namajunas, and rising bantamweight star Aljamain Sterling, who’s been unfortunately buried on the prelims). Then, Friday on Fox Sports 1, Mendes battles Frankie Edgar in a fight that may produce the next challenger for the featherweight crown.
The UFC also deserves credit for targeting and pushing McGregor since his entrance into the company two-and-a-half years ago. This isn’t a totally new experience for them – one needs only to look at how the company handled Jon Jones and Ronda Rousey – but it does represent a growing trend for the company to be willing to risk more and more resources on individual athletes rather than the brand as a whole. It’s paid off so far with McGregor, who has so far proven to be who he says he is.
FOILS AND NARRATIVE
At the surface, Aldo and McGregor are very different people. Up until McGregor, Jose Aldo has seemed almost allergic to fight promotion. He has refused to disrespect his opponents in the lead-up to fights, which has led to anemic returns on pay-per-view. He carries a charisma about him that is attached to any man who has proven himself as violent as he has within the confines of combat sports, but it’s betrayed by an almost childlike humbleness best depicted in an endearing video that captures the first time he shopped for a suit. (I cannot recommend watching this video enough. Also note that Aldo seems to finally decide on a very simple black suit.)
McGregor, meanwhile, is loud and brash. He predicts his fights down to the round and method. He prides himself on three-piece suits and cars with the price tags typical of a nice home. He used the UFC’s “Time Is Now” press event to pick fights with half the fighters on the dais. But McGregor’s…character? persona?…that he unleashes during promotional duties belies the thoughtful, intelligent martial artist within.
And there’s the rub. You could break down Aldo-McGregor as the fight between the humble champion and the cocky challenger, but like any good narrative, the story is richer than that. And, in this case, it’s with the stories they share: growing up in poor neighborhoods; youths spent playing football before combat sports came calling (that they root for Chelsea and Manchester United, respectively, is another added wrinkle); their large aspirations in the sport. Aldo’s mission is to leave a legacy as the greatest fighter of all time (which played a part in his pulling out of UFC 189). McGregor acts as if the UFC featherweight crown is his destiny…and one that merely proceeds his inevitable capture of the lightweight title for good measure.
DYNAMIC PERSONALITIES CREATING MOMENTS
Jose Aldo is not dull. That’s clear from all the media content that’s been released in connection to this fight, from the suit-shopping video from above to describing McGregor as the joker to his king all the way back in January. Like Anderson Silva before him, there’s a personality there that just so happens to be shrouded by a language barrier.
And also like Anderson Silva before him, it’s taken a loud-mouthed English speaker to bring him the attention he rightfully deserves. Because it’s not as if Aldo’s portfolio isn’t up to snuff; he has a highlight reel and a list of defeated foes that any fighter would want to own. But it’s taken a fighter like McGregor with the mouth to match the skills to succeed in putting this many eyeballs on Jose Aldo where Frankie Edgar, Chad Mendes, and even Urijah Faber failed.
And it’s the interaction between McGregor and Aldo that has created a number of moments that have seared into the fight fan’s head. Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier had two such moments: the press conference brawl and the leaked ESPN that followed. Aldo and McGregor had upwards of a half-dozen on the World Tour alone: McGregor eating a picture of Aldo, Aldo flicking McGregor off, McGregor telling Aldo he was going to die in Portuguese, Aldo telling football star Thiago Silva he was going to “kill this motherfucking and cut his head off” over the phone, McGregor touching Aldo on a TV studio set, McGregor stealing the belt in Ireland.
But there’s one moment that sticks out more than any of those, and it’s happened right after McGregor beat Dennis Siver to earn the right to fight Aldo. After Herb Dean stepped in to stop the contest, McGregor runs and jumps over the Octagon fence. He stands in front of Aldo, using every trick in nature to make himself appear bigger than he is. And Aldo doesn’t flinch. He doesn’t even raise his hands. He laughs in his face. This is everything about Aldo and McGregor distilled into one moment in time, perfectly captured by UFC cameras.
THE TALE OF TWO FIGHTS
Oh, yeah, and then there’s the fight itself. As of the time of writing, the fight is essentially a pick ’em shaded slightly toward McGregor. Ask ten different people how they see the fight going, and you’re likely to get ten different responses.
There’s good reason for this, with a number of variables at play that won’t reveal themselves until fight night. Will the long layoff hurt Aldo? Despite turning 29 in September, will he show up old after 26 fights (about half at the very highest level) of wear and tear? Has McGregor’s ACL injury healed? Will Aldo exploit what might be a large advantage on the ground? We know McGregor is good, but is he on Jose Aldo’s level? How will Aldo handle a striker as dynamic as McGregor? How will he handle McGregor’s size? Can McGregor go five hard rounds? Does he have an answer for five rounds of Aldo kicking his legs?
Anyone who tries to tell you definitively how this fight will go is either a charlatan or someone with inside information. For those of us on the outside looking in, the possibilities are nearly endless. It would not be shocking to see either one finished, nor would it be shocking to see 25 minutes of grueling attrition. Even a slow, tactical fight that would be perceived as boring in other contexts will be made exciting given the stakes.
The interest in this story doesn’t end when someone’s hand is raised either. Will we see an immediate rematch? Will either of Aldo or McGregor (or both) move up to lightweight? Despite Aldo denying the rumors, is this potentially his last fight? Does an Aldo loss prohibit his dream of being the greatest of all time? Does a McGregor loss derail his ascent? Do the good times really have to end?
