“I think Conor is going to shock everybody again. Honestly, I think he’s going to make this look easy. I really think Conor is going to embarrass Aldo. I think Aldo is going to come out very aggressive, Conor will make him miss and then he’s going to punish him for that with his devastating striking. Aldo has to close that distance and Conor is a lot bigger than him, he’s a lot longer. In order for Aldo to land, he’s going to have move forward. He has to get on the inside to land them shots and that’s when he’s going to get clipped. Conor is going to be very elusive and he’ll crack him as he’s trying to come in.
Aldo is very fast, he’s very strong and he’s obviously really good, but I think Conor is on a different level. Conor’s understanding of the whole striking game is what sets him apart from the rest of the field. He’s very good at reading people, he’s very good at judging range and being able to land and then getting out of dodge. Until people go in and do a round with Conor they don’t realize how good he is at actually doing that… I can see it being over late in the first round or early in the second, Conor will win by KO or TKO. There is no way Aldo is going to be in there for the whole fight. He’s going to get clipped a couple of times, he’ll panic, he’ll get reckless and then the finish won’t take too long to come after that. Aldo is very tough as well, so it really comes down to how long he can take those punishing shots, but I can’t see it going past the second.”
-Conor McGregor’s striking coach Owen Roddy talks to Vice’s Fightland about why McGregor’s going to defeat Jose Aldo at UFC 194.
Penick’s Analysis: From what we’ve seen of McGregor’s striking thus far, he’s clearly got immense talent, and is going to be a dangerous opponent for Aldo. However, the last time we saw Aldo actually get hit and have to react, he put on one of his best performances as Champion in picking Chad Mendes apart from there. The more he got hit, the better he returned fire, and he seems to thrive on that type of competitive fight. McGregor’s got power in short spaces, he’s good at putting combinations together, he moves well in the cage; there are a lot of things McGregor does very well to suggest he can have some success in this fight. But to embarrass Aldo? I have a really hard time seeing that happen.
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