Aldo vs McGregor set for December’s UFC 194

MANILA, Philippines – The highly-anticipated featherweight title unification bout between Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor will headline the UFC 194 pay-per-view event on December 13 (December 12 in the US).

UFC president Dana White confirmed the 145-pound championship clash on Tuesday, August 11 in an interview with Yahoo Sports.

Aldo and McGregor were originally penciled to meet this past July, but a rib injury forced the featherweight champion to withdraw from the match against the Irishman, who was left with no choice but to face late replacement Chad Mendes for the interim title.

Rumors swirled in recent weeks about the possibility of staging the heavily-hyped encounter at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, but the 16,800-seater MGM Grand Garden Arena will serve as the official venue.

“If we were going to go to Dallas Cowboys Stadium, that’s another story, but the MGM really wanted the fight and they made a huge effort for it and they got it. And it works out better for us to be in Las Vegas,” White said.

Aldo (25-1) has won seven-straight fights since entering UFC’s Octagon in April 2011 and becoming the organization’s inaugural featherweight champion.

The 28-year-old Brazilian was last seen in action when he earned a 5-round verdict versus Mendes in an October 2014 rematch.

Aside from his two victories over Mendes, Aldo also owns notable triumphs against the likes of Ricardo Lamas, Frankie Edgar, Chan Sung Jung, Mark Hominick and Kenny Florian under the UFC banner.

On the other hand, McGregor (18-2) won the interim UFC featherweight belt by punching out Mendes late in the second round.

Since his departure from Cage Warriors Fighting Championship in 2013, McGregor has taken UFC’s featherweight division by storm, winning six-consecutive fights with five coming by way of knockout. – Rappler.com