Dana White: Conor McGregor gets immediate title shot with move to lightweight

McGregor, who unified his interim title with Aldo’s gold-plated strap to become the official UFC featherweight champion, admitted that he did not expect a short night as he was willing to go the full 5 rounds with his arch-nemesis.

Jose Aldo (25-1) and Conor McGregor (19-2) was meant to be a fight for the ages.

There will be two title fights taking place tonight in UFC 194, and although Weidman vs Rockhold is an exciting fight, there’s no doubt that the eagerly awaited fight between Conor McGregor and Jose Aldo is the main event.

It was Aldo’s first defeat in the octagon in over a decade and speaking afterwards in front of the thousands of Irish fans inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena, McGregor knew that his greater punching ability would prove decisive.

The fight was scheduled at UFC 189 in July, but Aldo, who fights out of Nova Uniao in Rio, withdrew with a rib injury.

The hype is real, McGregor is the superstar the UFC have been craving and it will be fascinating to see what comes next from this remarkable new champion.

The 27-year-old fighter, nicknamed “The Notorious”, began landing hammer fists as referee John McCarthy swooped in to end the bout 13 seconds in – the fastest finish in any title fight in the history of the UFC.

One man who most certainly won’t be attending is ex-Middleweight king Chris Weidman.

“Nobody can take that left hand shot”, McGregor said after the fight. The win marked Aldo’s seventh straight defense of his UFC belt and 10th consecutive title fight win dating back to the WEC.

“I’m not just going to beat Jose”.

From the moment he arrived in the UFC in 2013, not long after getting off public assistance in his native Ireland, McGregor vowed he’d shoot to the top of the sport.

“No speed, just timing”.

“I told him we can go again, although it’s a nice feeling to get the knockout…you don’t want to see a champions like that going down like that”, he said. So within the next two fights, I will be a two-weight world champion. We can get one back for B.J.

“I think every fight is the biggest fight of my career, the next one is always the biggest one, so I’m looking at this one as the biggest fight in my career because it’s the next one”, he opined.