“I feel within four minutes the shots will have landed. It’s on him after that. I feel that anything after that four-minute mark of the first round will be a formality. After that, it will be on him where he’s at mentally, where he’s at physically and how much he truly wants this. I see him crumbling at the end of the first or not answering the bell for the second, but it will be wrapped up inside one. I visualize entering the contest unpredictable. I will pressure him, I will evade him, I will strike him with every limb, the knee, the heel, the fist, the elbow. I will be a ghost in there. He will think I’m there, and then I am not there. He will think I am not there, and then I am there. I’m going to put on a masterpiece for this fight. This fight, this will prove my point that I am the No. 1.”
-Conor McGregor gives his prediction for the Jose Aldo fight at UFC 194 during Wednesday’s press conference for the event in Las Vegas (transcribed by FoxSports.com).
Penick’s Analysis: McGregor’s supreme confidence in his abilities has gotten him to this point, because he’s continued to back this type of talk up on numerous occasions. The win over Chad Mendes in July was a significant hurdle for him to have gotten past, because it gave him the elite level victory he’d been somewhat lacking to that point; regardless of any caveats placed on that fight, he stands with Aldo alone as fighters to have not only beaten Mendes, but stopped him as well. McGregor’s proven himself to be deserving of this spot, and if he does to Aldo everything he says here he is going to do, there will be absolutely zero question about his greatness as a fighter. He’s on the cusp of a major, major moment, and beating Aldo in this manner would be huge for him.
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