I SUPPOSE THERE are worse ways to spend your birthday.
I was in Boston for mine last week, seated Octagon-side as three of my SBG fighters picked up their latest UFC wins. We’ve had plenty of memorable nights as a team, and this one ranks right up there with the very best of them.
It kind of reminded me of UFC Dublin last year. There are obvious parallels, especially in a place like Boston which almost feels like Ireland.
The guys made weight easier than any time before, there were no hiccups and nobody was carrying any knocks going into their fights. Everything was smooth. If we had lost all three fights, there could have been no excuses.
Not for the first time, Paddy Holohan started us off. We’ve started to call Paddy our berserker, which — in case you didn’t know — was a sort of wild viking warrior who was always on the front line.
Paddy was the first one in again and he set the tone for the night. It was a very one-sided bout. Fair play to his opponent Shane Howell for resisting and fighting off the submissions. But Paddy was still full of beans even in the last round, and that will give him confidence knowing that he can have plenty in the tank if a fight does go that far.
Cathal Pendred was next, and he also did well in his bout against Sean Spencer. Cathal got dropped and rattled in the first round, but he recovered brilliantly. I don’t know what someone is going to have to do to actually beat him.
Cathal is a work in progress, and he’d be the first guy to tell you that. He’s been doing martial arts for about half the time Conor McGregor has, yet he’s 3-0 in the UFC and has been unbeaten for a very long time.
Regarding the decision, I was surprised that two of the judges gave Cathal the first round, but I definitely had him winning the second and third.
People have been questioning the judges’ decision and I think a lot of it has stemmed from Joe Rogan’s commentary on the fight. When Joe starts to see one guy getting the upper hand in a fight, his mind seems to be made up and he can’t see it any other way. Sean started well so that seemed to settle it for Joe.
Looking back at the stats from the fight, Sean only landed three or four more significant strikes, whereas Cathal had four takedowns, as well as some submission attempts, and Sean had none. Of course I am slightly biased when it comes to my own fighters — Who isn’t? — but I do genuinely feel Cathal did enough.
I believe Sean and Cathal have spoken on social media about a rematch, and that’s something I’m definitely open to. I would enjoy seeing that and I think Cathal could do a lot better in a second fight. There were a few things we had worked on that didn’t really happen on Sunday night, so to get a second chance and put this all to bed is something I’d welcome.
Our third and final bout at the TD Garden on Sunday was the main event between Conor McGregor and Dennis Siver. It was a lovely performance from Conor and showed once again that he’s still only getting better.
Conor demands a lot of himself and he said he felt he was operating at about 30 or 40 percent of what he’s capable of. He got clipped by Siver a few times when he didn’t need to, but overall it was hard to be too critical of a performance like that against such an experienced and dangerous opponent.
Our next assignment for Conor is pretty much as big as it gets: a fight against the reigning UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo in Las Vegas.
The approach to this fight will be the same as always. We don’t want to make this bigger than what it is. Yes, there’s more money involved and a belt on the line, but it is also just another fight. It’s one guy against another, and we don’t want to lose that perspective because it’s got us this far.
We’ll do a couple of weeks at Mjölnir in Iceland because it’s a great place for an athlete to be. Around three or four weeks before the fight we’ll fly out to Vegas, and we’ll bring over a few sparring partners to work with during that period. But otherwise it’ll be business as usual.
The work won’t be any harder just because it’s five rounds instead of three. A fighter should always be working as hard as they can, irrespective of how many rounds they’re likely to fight.
Jose Aldo is known for his kicks, but against southpaws he doesn’t tend to try them as often. He did in the first exchange against ‘Korean Zombie’ and fractured his foot. Low-kicks for an orthodox fighter can be risky against a southpaw.
I think Jose will want it to turn into a grappling match early on. As soon as he gets hit he’ll start to shoot for takedowns. Basically, similar to when he’s fought the guys from Team Alpha Male… but with the roles reversed.
Jose Aldo has been a fantastic champion but every champion must give way for the next wave. He’s had so many hard wars and tough five-rounders which have almost certainly taken a lot out of him.
I think he’s slightly on the slide. When you look at his last few fights, three or four years ago he was destroying opponents of that calibre inside a round or two. Now they’re all bringing him the distance and having decent exchanges.
When Conor lands strikes it’s devastating, whereas Aldo seems to be happy out-pointing people now. Conor will stop him, maybe in the second or third round, but I do believe he’ll stop him.
