“I FELT LIKE I was going to pass out from the pain by the time I did the post-fight interview.
“I’ve never been hit with a bat but I think [that experience] would be kind of like how it feels to get hit with a bat. Like somebody aiming at you with a bat. That’s the best way to describe it. Over and over and over.”
Urijah Faber’s recent recollections to MMAFighting.com of his 2010 defeat against Jose Aldo provide an insight into what awaits Conor McGregor this Saturday night at UFC 194, when he faces the reigning UFC featherweight champion in a 145lbs title unification bout in Las Vegas.
The “bat” Faber referred to was Jose Aldo’s right leg, which has been a crucial tool in his destruction of mixed martial arts’ featherweight division throughout his dominant tenure at the top — in both the WEC and the UFC.
Faber was the only fighter who managed to last the distance with Aldo in the WEC, but that fact was of scant consolation to ‘The California Kid’. Instead of being dispatched inside three rounds like Aldo’s other seven WEC opponents, Faber endured the punishment for 25 minutes. He was dismantled by Aldo, and the Brazilian’s low-kicks to his legs caused much of the damage.
“That was actually the most pain I’ve ever been in, because it was all soft tissue,” Faber told Shaun Al-Shatti. “The ones that landed, it was a different kind of kick than I’d felt before. Normally if you get caught with a kick like that in practice, you stop and, you know, shake it off and get the limp out before you start sparring again. But man, those kicks.
“We were having a little trouble reaching each other and I think he just decided to use that weapon. And it got nasty, dude. I remember sitting down after the second round having, like, a softball-sized welt right on my knee. I couldn’t bend my knee and I just remember looking down like, holy shit.”
Faber added: “Looking back, I remember actively having to hobble after him at one point. Like, actually having to limp. I was just… for me it was like, alright, how am I going to hit this guy? So I just switched stances and kept trying to hit him with the right hand. Even when he kicked me to the ground, I can’t remember exactly how I went down, but I couldn’t bend my leg at all.”
Jose Aldo has mastered the art of the leg-kick in mixed martial arts and Urijah Faber wasn’t the last fighter to find that out. Targeting an opponent’s legs may not directly finish a fight, but it’s a strategy that has proved extremely successful for Aldo in terms of scoring points and minimising the productive output of his rivals.
Such is the power that Aldo generates with those kicks, it can debilitate his opponents by restricting their freedom of movement to the extent that they’re no longer operating at 100%. As the likes of Frankie Edgar and Ricardo Lamas would learn, Aldo only needs to land two or three clean kicks in order to incapacitate the man facing him. If he can succeed in doing so early in the contest, it’s as if he’s giving himself a headstart.
Contrast the leg-kicks in this clip from Aldo’s fight against Ricardo Lamas in February 2014. While many fighters throw leg-kicks with minimum exertion as a means of impressing the judges, Aldo’s are geared towards breaking his opponents down. Lamas half-heartedly initiates the exchange, but his lacklustre attempt is comfortably checked by Aldo, who responds with a ferocious counter which very nearly sweeps Lamas off his feet.
By all accounts, Aldo was a pretty good soccer player until he decided that he preferred to kick fighters instead of footballs. His background in the beautiful game has almost certainly contributed to the development of this element of his arsenal.
One of the many impressive aspects of Aldo’s leg-kicks is his ability to inject full-body force behind them, while simultaneously preserving a good upper-body posture and a horizontal line of vision. Doing so allows him to maintain his focus on his opponent’s reaction, subsequently keeping him prepared in the event of a counter-attack.
This could be particularly important against McGregor, for reasons we’ll go into later. While remaining vigilant under the threat of a response, Aldo demonstrated this quality well in his first fight against Chad Mendes.
Of course, the major difference for Aldo when he takes on McGregor is that he’ll be fighting against a southpaw for the first time since he beat Kenny Florian in October 2011. This means Aldo will be targeting the inside of the right leg instead of the outside of the left, which has its pros and cons for both parties and consequently changes the entire dynamic of a leg-kick strategy.
Being on the wrong end of a powerful kick to the inside-leg can be more painful than its outside equivalent and it also increases the risk of injury. The problem for the aggressor, however, is that the right leg has a greater distance to travel before connecting with its target, thus increasing the risk of being beaten to the punch, so to speak, by a counter.
Aiming for the outside leg of an orthodox fighter carries less risk as it can be struck while remaining outside of punching range, but Aldo will need to find his way inside to hit McGregor’s inside-leg — hence the aforementioned importance of Aldo being prepared for a counter.
Having his inside-leg attacked by Aldo could be an invitation for McGregor to use the kind of powerful straight left that accounted for Chad Mendes in July. If Aldo launches the kick, McGregor will look to land a jab before the Brazilian’s leg has had time to connect with his.
In his fight against Florian at UFC 136, Aldo was tentative early on and reluctant to throw the leg-kicks in spite of being urged to do so by his corner. He eventually took the risk midway through the second round and reaped the benefits, as Florian slowed down thereafter.
“I didn’t get full feeling in my legs back for months,” said Florian. “He was kicking the inside of my leg, which affected the nerves in my legs so much that it took about a full two months to really get feeling back. It actually [became a game]. I would swipe my hand on the inside of my leg to see if I could feel it, and I just couldn’t feel it.
“I literally could not feel my fingers rubbing against the skin of my leg because the nerves were dead. So for two months I would just, like, swipe my leg all the time to see if the nerves were there. Finally, after a couple months, they did come back. But, I mean, it was that kind of power.”
Aldo is also an expert at ensuring that the kicks aren’t telegraphed. He has the ability to pull the trigger before his opponents have had time to realise that the gun has been loaded.
Florian: “Jose keeps his foot pointed forward and still generates an insane amount of power, so there’s no tell. You can’t read his kicks, which makes it so difficult when combined with the actual speed he generates. So it’s very hard to check those kicks.
“He not only doesn’t have a tell to his kicks and generates an insane amount of power, but he’s also very fast, and he even keeps the foot pointed. When you keep the foot pointed on a kick, it ensures you want to kick with your shin and not your foot.
“That’s why it really feels like you’re getting hit with a baseball bat. He doesn’t kick with the foot. He kicks with his shin.”
Something Jose Aldo and his camp will certainly have identified about McGregor is his wide stance. The Dubliner’s balance is extremely impressive and his preference for jutting his lead leg out is an important component of that.
However, against an opponent who will prioritise attacking that very leg, will McGregor be forced to adjust? And if so, what are the consequences likely to be?
As alluded to already, shortening his stance is likely to have a detrimental impact on McGregor’s equilibrium, as well as decreasing the reach of his large variety of kicks and that trademark left jab, which is expected to be one of his main advantages over Aldo.
Much will depend on whether he ends up fighting on the counter or on the lead, but the SBG fighter could opt to alternate his stance between orthodox and southpaw in an attempt to keep his opponent guessing, or he may also take encouragement from the — albeit limited — success Kenny Florian had in fighting fire with fire.
When it comes to using his kicks, McGregor traditionally prefers to go above the waist, favouring teeps, hook-kicks and roundhouses. When he goes below, it’s usually with a low-side-kick to his opponent’s lead leg. But as a defence mechanism against Aldo’s primary weapon, it wouldn’t be entirely surprising if the Dubliner decides to fire back a few of his own.
Another advantage for a southpaw when kicks are being launched at their inside leg is that they can be easier to check by turning the knee inside, which can have disastrous consequences for the fighter throwing the kick if it’s in any way inaccurate.
Aldo’s kicks are powerful, but precision is equally as important to ensure that the attack doesn’t backfire. Anderson Silva found that out in his rematch against Chris Weidman, which ended when Silva severely fractured his shin as a result of having a leg-kick blocked.
When asked last week about his wide stance being a target for Aldo, McGregor calmly responded: “Maybe it’s deceptive. Maybe I’m giving them the front foot. Maybe I want them to kick it. Maybe I’ve got tricks up my sleeve you haven’t seen yet, because no one attacked that. I’m prepared. I prepare intelligently. I’m ready for this fight.”
After a 14-month absence, Aldo, the veteran batter, is about to step up to the plate once again. McGregor’s reach advantage could be his own key to victory here, but the best way for Aldo to combat and nullify that will be to unload on his opponent’s long legs.
Aldo has defeated all before him in the 145lbs division until now. If Conor McGregor is to be added to his long list of victims, expect those leg-kicks to be a critical component of Aldo’s latest home run.
