It’s now official! UFC Interim Featherweight Champion Conor McGregor will face UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo on Saturday 12th December 2015 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
UFC President Dana White broke the news last night and it seems that the rumoured show at the Cowboy Stadium was a very real possibility to host the fight.
“If you would have asked me, I would have told you for sure we were going to Dallas Cowboys Stadium.”
But the fight will instead take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena which played host to UFC 189, the event which saw McGregor crowned interim Featherweight Champion following his second round win over Chad Mendes.
The fight will mark Champion Jose Aldo’s return to the cage after just over a year out following a rib injury which prevented him competing at UFC 189. The fight will be the third bout of 2015 for McGregor.
Tony’s Thoughts;
Well I must admit I was never sold on the idea of the UFC putting on a show in Texas. I get the appeal of hosting the Dallas Cowboys Stadium but for me Texas isn’t really a fight destination that fans would want to travel to. Las Vegas has everything to offer fight fans and for me is just the right location for this unification bout. I absolutely don’t blame the UFC for playing the Dallas Stadium and the MGM off against each other though and it’s a great way for them to leverage the MGM to pay more to host the show.
Will be very interesting to see what other fights stack up this card and the early rumours are that it will probably feature a rematch between Cain and Werdum for the UFC Heavyweight Title. If that is the case it would be strange to see the Heavyweight Title feature in anything but the main event (seeing as the UFC Heavyweight Champion is officially the “baddest man on the planet”) but I suppose the UFC are really pushing Aldo/McGregor and so will probably have this as the main event.
Roll on 12th December in what will truly be one of the biggest fights in UFC history!