UFC president Dana White has locked down a date and venue for the highly anticipated bout between Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor. According to Yahoo Sports' Kevin Iole, Aldo vs. McGregor is scheduled for Dec. 12 during UFC 194 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
White admitted AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, was a major threat to host the fight:
But White told Yahoo Sports that he wanted a bigger venue than the approximately 11,000-seat Mandalay Bay Events Center. He was in talks with Cowboys' officials about putting the fight at AT&T Stadium and said that on Thursday, "if you would have asked me, I would have told you for sure we were going to Dallas Cowboys Stadium."
Instead, officials representing MGM Resorts moved the necessary pieces around to enable the Garden Arena to house Aldo vs. McGregor.
Bleacher Report's Jeremy Botter didn't envision any other outcome:
Dallas was never a real option. Was always leverage to get MGM to pay more. Those fights were never leaving Vegas.
— Jeremy Botter (@jeremybotter) August 10, 2015
McGregor/Aldo, Werdum Cain either 12/5 or 12/12 and then Rousey/Tate, Weidman/Rockhold Jan 2. All MGM.
— Jeremy Botter (@jeremybotter) August 10, 2015
Fans will simply be happy they now have a confirmed date for the UFC featherweight title clash. McGregor and Aldo were originally set to face off at UFC 189 until Aldo suffered an injury in training.
In a way, fighting Chad Mendes was a good thing for McGregor, since it allowed him one last stern test before he meets the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC.
Aldo vs. McGregor is bound to be one of the biggest fights of 2015. Both fighters are immensely talented and charismatic. Not to mention they seem to genuinely dislike each other, which was evident during the pre-fight press conferences:
Over the past few years, mixed martial arts fans have bemoaned how the UFC has hurt the product by putting together too many cards and building too few new stars. Fans will have little difficulty getting excited for an Aldo vs. McGregor main event.
UFC 194 will be a great way for the company to close out 2015 with a bang.
