JOSE ALDO IS a superior fighter but Conor McGregor’s ability to get under his skin may be the key to victory for the Irishman at UFC 194.
That’s the view of American fighter Ricardo Lamas, who lost to Aldo via unanimous decision last year at UFC 169.
Lamas is tipping Aldo to overcome McGregor when the pair collide in their featherweight title unification bout in Las Vegas a week from Saturday.
However, he believes that if Aldo is unable to keep his emotions in check, it will play into the hands of McGregor, who has regularly taunted the Brazilian throughout the protracted build-up to the fight.
“Everybody has a chance in any fight and I think it really depends on how Aldo is going into this fight mentally,” Lamas told Submission Radio when asked if McGregor could end Aldo’s 10-year undefeated run on 12 December.
“It depends on if McGregor has gotten inside his head and if Aldo fights with emotion or not. If [Aldo] starts fighting with anger he’s going to make mistakes and that’s exactly what McGregor wants. It really depends on how smart Aldo is and how smart he fights.
“From some of the videos I’ve seen, it does look like [McGregor] has frustrated him a little bit. But we’ll see what happens.”
Lamas’ own hopes of getting back into title contention suffered a significant setback in April when he was beaten by Chad Mendes, but the 33-year-old Chicago native returned to winning ways recently by defeating Diego Sanchez.
Despite already coming up short against Jose Aldo, Lamas doesn’t believe that his chances of fighting for the 145lbs belt again are better if it’s in McGregor’s possession.
“No. I’m not cheering for McGregor at all in this fight,” he said. “I think Aldo has more weapons in his arsenal. I think he’s going to take the fight.”
Lamas added: “A fight with me and McGregor, if he stays in the featherweight division I think that fight is bound to happen. Whether he wins or loses, I think it’ll happen sooner or later.”
