Conor The Conqueror? 3 Picks For July 11’s UFC 189 Card
Champion Jose Aldo (+110) vs. #3 Conor McGregor (-140) – Featherweight (five rounds)
The storyline for this featherweight championship fight took a dramatic change this June. The question of “Can Conor McGregor back up his title quality smack talk?” has been replaced with questions about Jose Aldo’s health. The Brazilian titan suffered a rib injury (either a fracture or a bone bruise depending on the source) during training and there’s been some fretting that this fight won’t go down. McGregor’s declared that his opponent should employ a “little bit of ice, little bit of ibuprofen, little bit of toughen the f*** up” as part of his recovery plan. McGregor claims he’ll be going for the chin and not the ribs of the UFC’s highest ranked pound-for-pound fighter, but is either gameplan enough to knock off the only featherweight champion the UFC’s ever known? We don’t think so. McGregor can end a fight with strikes, but Aldo counters with a sparkling track record of brutalizing opponents with punches and knees. Both fighters enter the octagon with incredible takedown defense which should ramp up the exchange of blows. Aldo can boast having the toughness necessary to outclass McGregor even with a nagging injury. Also not to be overlooked: Aldo’s resume includes several fights that have gone over three rounds, a feat of endurance that’s never been faced by the Irish contender. This should be an amazing contest.
Champion Robbie Lawler (+145) vs. #2 Rory MacDonald (-175) – Welterweight (five rounds)
It took a little while to get her, but we have Lawler/MacDonald II on the horizon. Lawler scored a split decision win over MacDonald at UFC 169 a couple years back and now we’re getting another go-around with the weleterweight championship on the line. MacDonald enters this fight with three impressive victories, although Lawler’s certainly no slouch with his recent run of fights including his title winning effort versus Johny Hendricks. The competitors are well-matched with Lawler the more dangerous striker and MacDonald holding a lean edge in submissions. We like MacDonald to walk away with the gold in this rematch based on how good he looked in 2014 dispatching Demian Maia, Tyron Woodley and Tarec Saffiedine with future champ flair. It’ll be close, but MacDonald’s grabbing the win.
#7 Dennis Bermudez (-185) vs. #11 Jeremy Stephens (+150) – Welterweight (three rounds)
Two fighters looking to move up to the Lawler/MacDonald level of the division will be doing battle on the same card. Stephens enters having lost two straight fights, but don’t judge him too harshly on that. Those Ls were a classic vs. Cub Swanson and a catchweight bout versus an oversized Charles Oliveira. Still, we’ve gotta give Bermudez the edge in this tilt that’s a lock that feature big shots and scrappy performances. Unless Stephens has magically gained strong submission powers, Bermudez gets his hand raised on July 11.
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