Aldo's coach: McGregor will try to grapple at UFC 189
Nova Uniao coach and manager Andre Pederneiras finally recently took time to talk about something which may not be a complete distraction to his fighter Jose Aldo. The world featherweight champ next defends his title at UFC 189 against Conor McGregor, in Las Vegas.
Leading up to the mega event, Aldo's coach has said he will retire from coaching, soon, and also kinda suggested that fighters like Aldo who are critical of the UFC's pay should find somewhere else to work. Yeah, none of that was probably helpful for "Scarface."
Make no mistake about it, though -- both fighter and coach are on the same page when it comes to predicting a win for Aldo at UFC 189. The coach recently met with members of the media in Brazil and dismissed the notion that McGregor -- who moved his camp from Dublin to Las Vegas to prepare for his title shot -- has somehow become a much different markedly improved fighter.
"I don't think Conor has done anything different than he has ever done," he said to reporters.
"He's not in Ireland, he's in Las Vegas, and maybe he got a wizard to change his game. We see how the fighter reacts when he's under pressure, what he does. That's something we look at a lot. When he's under pressure, he will do exactly what he always does."
Actually, the Carlson Gracie Sr. black belt believes that McGregor -- known for his power punching -- will actually resort to takedown attempts when the going gets tough on the feet against Aldo. "In my mind, Conor will be the one to become a wrestler," he insisted.
"I believe McGregor will become a wrestler in the middle of the fight. Where he believes he's good at, in the middle of the fight he will realize he's not that good. He will try to grapple with Aldo. He doesn't have an idea who he's going to fight. He will go for takedowns during the fight."
That is meant to be a criticism implying that McGregor will become desparate. Of course, the Irishman's camp belives that, should the fight go to the ground, the "Notorious" challenger has the stuff to submit the champion.
Time will tell, but the talk is still fun for now.
