Jose Aldo and his coach believe Conor McGregor is going to be in over his head July 11 when they square off for the UFC featherweight title. McGregor is one of UFC's fastest rising stars, but against Aldo, he'll be staring across at the No. 1 fighter pound for pound in UFC's rankings.
"In my mind, Conor will be the one to become a wrestler," Aldo's coach Andre Pederneiras said. "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."
Pedemeiras also said that McGregor would likely need magical intervention to make the changes in his game necessary to defeat Aldo.
"I don't think Conor has done anything different than he has ever done. 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."
McGregor's teammate Gunnar Nelson agrees with Pedemeiras that McGregor might take to the ground, but diverts when he said he thinks that "Notorious" is capable of tapping out Aldo.
"He's very good on the ground, and he's even better when it's grappling for MMA, because that's a lot of difference," Nelson said.
"He's very fast and he can move in most directions, and he's getting better every single day...if a good black belt forgets himself for a second, he's on you and he's probably going to submit you."
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