Heavy draw to featherweight title
Aldo-McGregor bout highly anticipated, but B.C.’s MacDonald vying for welterweight belt worth a look
If you have some downtime over Canada Day, you may want to do some research on travelling to Las Vegas to potentially see some history.
B.C.’s Rory MacDonald fights Robbie Lawler on July 11 at the MGM Grand as the co-main event on a stacked card, in a bid to become the first British Columbian to win a word title. UFC 189 is going to be insane. Actually, the whole of International Fight Week in Las Vegas leading up to the July 11 fight card at the MGM Grand Garden Arena is going to be bonkers as fans from all over the world descend upon Sin City ready to see some high-quality fisticuffs and a couple UFC championship tilts.
No fight this year is bigger than the featherweight title fight between champion Jose Aldo and challenger Conor McGregor that headlines this show.
The brash Irishman has been talking about taking the Brazilian titleholder’s belt since he first arrived on the scene and thus far, he’s back up all his big talk with impressive performances in the cage.
But things in this rivalry have been ramping up all year and they finally come to a head at UFC 189.
After his win over Dennis Siver in Boston, McGregor jumped over the cage and got in Aldo’s face.
A major media tour followed once the fight was announced and “The Notorious” continued to antagonize the usually subdued Aldo, who was finally stirred to an emotional, electric reaction when McGregor grabbed his championship belt at the tour’s final stop in Dublin.
It gets said all the time, but this genuinely is the toughest fight of Aldo’s career.
McGregor cuts different angles, moves in a different fashion that anyone the Brazilian standout has faced thus far and has legitimate fight-ending power. That said, there is a reason why Aldo is the one and only man to wear the featherweight title in the UFC and the Nova Uniao product is extra amped to put a beating on the challenger and head back to Rio de Janeiro with the belt around his waist.
All week, the preamble to the fight should be crazy and once these two get inside the Octagon, whether it goes five seconds or five rounds, it’s going to be electric.
But the highly anticipated grudge match between Aldo and McGregor isn’t the only championship bout on the card, as MacDonald challenges Lawler for the UFC welterweight title in the co-main event of the evening.
Lawler’s resurgence and rise to the top of the division is one of the most compelling stories in UFC history — a can’t-miss prospect who initially didn’t live up to his potential before becoming The Prodigal Son of the UFC and winning the title from Johny Hendricks back in December.
Now he’ll have to face a familiar foe in MacDonald, who has rattled off three straight victories since dropping a split decision to Lawler at UFC 167. The 25-year-old, who was born in Quesnel, who has ties to Kelowna and Langley and now calls Montreal home, has been razorsharp of late and is looking to join Carlos Newton and Georges StPierre as the third Canadian to hold the UFC welterweight title.
In addition to the tandem championship tilts atop the card, UFC 189 features a number of additional outstanding matchups and intriguing stories to follow, including a pairing of Top 10 featherweights Dennis Bermudez and Jeremy Stephens, welterweight barnburners featuring Matt Brown (vs. Tim Means) and Brandon Thatch (vs. John Howard), the return of Mike Swick and bantamweight prospects Thomas Almeida and Cody “No Love” Garbrandt.
Tickets for UFC 189 are available online through Ticketmaster, though the event is nearly sold out.