If there was single quote to take away from that thoroughly enjoyable interview with SevereMMA, this was it.
I'll keep going, keep eating, keep training. I'll keep going until fucking all the belts are wrapped up.
Featherweight, lightweight, welterweight, he even mentioned drafting in middleweights to try and take him down. While a potential fight against Robbie Lawler at UFC 200 has been rumoured, this was the first time that the Dubliner has really addressed that possibility and Conor McGregor is nothing if not ambitious.
If 2015 was the year that he really ensured he fulfilled the promises he has been setting down for quite some time, then 2016 is set to be the year that he could quite simply obliterate anything that has come before. That all starts on March 5th when he could become the first UFC fighter to hold belts in two weight classes simultaneously.
With two weeks to go until the big night, all eyes may be on Rafael dos Anjos but another Brazilian rival is ensuring that he won't be put into the shadows.
Jose Aldo was speaking this week in Rio and having fallen foul of one of Conor McGregor's most oft repeated predictions, the former featherweight champ decided to make some predictions of his own. Asked whether he thought the fight against Dos Anjos would go the way of the Dubliner, Aldo decided to go quite a bit further than simply pick the winner of UFC 196's main event.
I think it’s tough. And I’ll say this, I don’t think he will have any belt by the end of the year. And everyone will forget him. He has this dream, this goal, but you can be sure that he won’t have any by the end of the year.
A fight is a fight and you have to respect the other side, but I see Rafael with the belt and the (featherweight) belt back to me. That’s a fact.
Whatever about his predictions for the belts, Aldo is probably stretching things a bit with the suggestion that McGregor will be forgotten about by the end of the year. Even if was to lose against Dos Anjos, there's just too many options open for him and too much cash too be made for McGregor to be put on the scrapheap any time soon.
Having said that, Aldo's prediction that by the end of the year, he'll be the featherweight champ once again is infinitely more believable. The 29 year old is pushing for a rematch following that historic defeat at UFC 194 but, as much as his record may deserve it, you'd have to think that there's as much chance of McGregor facing Jon Jones for the light heavyweight title before the end of the year.
But, as quite a few commentators are pointing out. If McGregor defeats Dos Anjos on March 5th, you'd have to think it's unlikely he'll return to featherweight and that draining weight cut. He may not like it but vacating that featherweight belt would make the most sense. And if that does happen, Aldo is in line for a return to the top.
The Brazilian is more than deserving of that of course, but we'd be willing to bet by this time next year, he may be hoping for a bit much to think that Conor McGregor will be a distant memory.
