December and January are a massive months for the UFC. There are just so many key fights going down but the biggest amongst them is arguably the featherweight title unification fight: Conor McGregor vs. Jose Aldo.
Anthony Pettis, who was speaking at the QnA this past weekend at UFC 192, has been linked to both men in some way in the past. He was supposed to fight Aldo for his title a while back at 145lbs and with McGregor rumoured to be on the verge of heading up to lightweight, a division where Pettis was recently champ, media and fans have brought up their names together.
Pettis said that he believes Aldo would be a proper challenge for him yet reveals that he just doesn’t know about McGregor yet.
“Conor’s talking and doing his thing. But he hasn’t beat no one yet. Aldo, he’s beat everybody, but he’s at 145 (lbs). Aldo would be a good challenge for me. With Conor, he hasn’t beat anybody yet, so it’s hard to tell. If he beats Aldo, then he’s legit.”
Pettis will face Eddie Alvarez in Boston on January 17th in a fight which could crown the number one contender.
Alan’s Angle: I’ve said it in the past that I believe McGregor vs. Pettis will happen. It is just a matter of time before the Irishman moves back up to lightweight. His sights will be on the title and being the smart fighter that he is he has already put lightweight champ dos Anjos and challenger Cerrone on blast at the ‘GO BIG’ press conference. So regardless of who wins McGregor has already laid the foundations for a fight with either. Whether the UFC would put him straight into a title fight or not is questionable but we’ve seen crazier things happen in the past. But lets not get too ahead of ourselves, McGregor is still a featherweight, for now.
Now onto what Pettis said about McGregor beating no one. His two biggest wins to date have been against Dustin Poirier and Chad Mendes, so it is a little unfair to say he beat no one as those are two top fighters. And regardless of whether or not Mendes had a full camp he still accepted the fight and McGregor has the ‘W’. Also I’d like to mention McGregor’s win over Max Holloway, a fighter who has since began to reach his full potential and is still growing. Oh and McGregor won that fight with one knee.
But I do have to agree with McGregor needing to beat Aldo in order to solidify himself. He has so many doubters out there and a win over the Brazilian will surely silence them. Or maybe not, they are a fickle bunch.