“Sometimes it’s over before you know it.”
Before UFC 194 in Las Vegas, Conor McGregor was turning hype into an art form. Two weeks ago, he was tweeting, “Wake up Jose. It’s all over.” Last week he said Jose Aldo was “already beaten”.
“He cannot take my power,” McGregor said in a promotional video.
“I’m going to embarrass Jose,” he told reporters.
“The cold and calculated unified world champion,” he described himself in posting a picture of himself. On Wednesday.
The magnetism of Conor McGregor is not just in his brash, charismatic confidence. Plenty of athletes who talk a good game have come before; plenty will come again. What makes McGregor special is the audaciousness of his certainty. Like the apocalyptic soothsayer who will not just predict doomsday, but will claim to foresee it to the second-of-the-minute-of-the-hour-of-the day, Conor McGregor will not just say he is going to beat you. He is going to say something like, “I look in his eyes, and I see someone who knows his era is over. It’s a new era. It’s my era. I almost want to comfort him. I want to say, ‘Don’t worry. It will all be over soon’.”
Read more: Conor McGregor drops Jose Aldo, delivers on promised 'new era' at UFC 194
Read more: Conor McGregor knocks out Jose Aldo cold to win UFC featherweight title – in pictures
Read more: Luke Rockhold dethrones Chris Weidman at UFC 194, calls out Vitor Belfort
McGregor predicted, over and over again, with the certainty of two and two making four, nothing short of Jose Aldo’s doomsday at UFC 194. Aldo, one of the UFC’s greatest ever champions. The only champion the featherweight division that organisation had known.
And he delivered doomsday.
In the span of a Vine clip, McGregor knocked out Aldo. The fight lasted 13 seconds, the shortest title fight in UFC history, of which for maybe five were the fighters actually engaged.
Aldo lunged. McGregor blocked. McGregor countered. Aldo countered. Aldo fell. McGregor pounced. Fight over.
The thing is, Aldo, in those brief seconds before his destruction, seemed to accomplish what he was trying to. His right jab brought McGregor’s arms down in defence. His left hook landed squarely on McGregor’s face. The Irishman just seemed happy to oblige this scenario. By dropping his arms he also positioned himself for the blow to Aldo’s jaw that dropped the champion.
You hit me in the face. I will hit you in the face. Whoever is left standing wins. Such is the consistency of McGregor’s audaciousness.
More than simply besting Aldo, more than simply winning the title, he walked the walk of all that talk. He backed up every barb, every declaration, all of the arrogance and all of the self-regard. Spectacularly.
There are really two ways for a fight to be truly pulsating. The long way and the short way. Two evenly matched gladiators pushing each other to the limit, building to an epic crescendo. Or in a sudden and stupefying explosion of what just happened?
McGregor’s sudden and stupefying explosion of what just happened against Aldo really could not have been scripted any better.
This fight was supposed to happen at UFC 189 in July, before Aldo pulled out with an injury. It gave McGregor the chance to beat Chad Mendes and look like he really might be a great deal more than an electric personality attached to fists. The chance to give this fight – his fight – the anticipation it deserved.
“The last time in July ... I didn’t embrace it all,” McGregor said in his post-fight interview of the pageantry, the spectacle and, yes, the hype that surrounds a fight of this stature. “And I just wanted to embrace every bit of it a bit more.
“Because sometimes it’s over before you even know it. And then you’re like ‘I wish I was in the moment a bit more’, so this time I was a hell of a lot more in the moment.”
It was an astonishing moment. A historic moment. McGregor’s moment.
It is a good thing he relished it, too. It was over pretty fast.
jraymond@thenational.ae
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The biog
Alwyn Stephen says much of his success is a result of taking an educated chance on business decisions.
His advice to anyone starting out in business is to have no fear as life is about taking on challenges.
“If you have the ambition and dream of something, follow that dream, be positive, determined and set goals.
"Nothing and no-one can stop you from succeeding with the right work application, and a little bit of luck along the way.”
Mr Stephen sells his luxury fragrances at selected perfumeries around the UAE, including the House of Niche Boutique in Al Seef.
He relaxes by spending time with his family at home, and enjoying his wife’s India cooking.
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Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega
Director: Tim Burton
Rating: 3/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The biog
Full name: Aisha Abdulqader Saeed
Age: 34
Emirate: Dubai
Favourite quote: "No one has ever become poor by giving"
The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
The biog
Name: Salvador Toriano Jr
Age: 59
From: Laguna, The Philippines
Favourite dish: Seabass or Fish and Chips
Hobbies: When he’s not in the restaurant, he still likes to cook, along with walking and meeting up with friends.
Jawan
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Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
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Six pitfalls to avoid when trading company stocks
Following fashion
Investing is cyclical, buying last year's winners often means holding this year's losers.
Losing your balance
You end up with too much exposure to an individual company or sector that has taken your fancy.
Being over active
If you chop and change your portfolio too often, dealing charges will eat up your gains.
Running your losers
Investors hate admitting mistakes and hold onto bad stocks hoping they will come good.
Selling in a panic
If you sell up when the market drops, you have locked yourself out of the recovery.
Timing the market
Even the best investor in the world cannot consistently call market movements.
The biog
DOB: March 13, 1987
Place of birth: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia but lived in Virginia in the US and raised in Lebanon
School: ACS in Lebanon
University: BSA in Graphic Design at the American University of Beirut
MSA in Design Entrepreneurship at the School of Visual Arts in New York City
Nationality: Lebanese
Status: Single
Favourite thing to do: I really enjoy cycling, I was a participant in Cycling for Gaza for the second time this year
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THE SPECS
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 258hp at 5,000-6,500rpm
Torque: 400Nm from 1,550-4,400rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 6.4L/100km
Price, base: from D215,000 (Dh230,000 as tested)
On sale: now
FA Cup quarter-final draw
The matches will be played across the weekend of 21 and 22 March
Sheffield United v Arsenal
Newcastle v Manchester City
Norwich v Derby/Manchester United
Leicester City v Chelsea
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
if you go
The flights
Flydubai offers three daily direct flights to Sarajevo and, from June, a daily flight from Thessaloniki from Dubai. A return flight costs from Dhs1,905 including taxes.
The trip
The Travel Scientists are the organisers of the Balkan Ride and several other rallies around the world. The 2018 running of this particular adventure will take place from August 3-11, once again starting in Sarajevo and ending a week later in Thessaloniki. If you’re driving your own vehicle, then entry start from €880 (Dhs 3,900) per person including all accommodation along the route. Contact the Travel Scientists if you wish to hire one of their vehicles.
IPL 2018 FINAL
Sunrisers Hyderabad 178-6 (20 ovs)
Chennai Super Kings 181-2 (18.3 ovs)
Chennai win by eight wickets
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Match info
What: Fifa Club World Cup play-off
Who: Al Ain v Team Wellington
Where: Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain
When: Wednesday, kick off 7.30pm
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Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
RESULTS
Lightweight (female)
Sara El Bakkali bt Anisha Kadka
Bantamweight
Mohammed Adil Al Debi bt Moaz Abdelgawad
Welterweight
Amir Boureslan bt Mahmoud Zanouny
Featherweight
Mohammed Al Katheeri bt Abrorbek Madaminbekov
Super featherweight
Ibrahem Bilal bt Emad Arafa
Middleweight
Ahmed Abdolaziz bt Imad Essassi
Bantamweight (female)
Ilham Bourakkadi bt Milena Martinou
Welterweight
Mohamed Mardi bt Noureddine El Agouti
Middleweight
Nabil Ouach bt Ymad Atrous
Welterweight
Nouredine Samir bt Marlon Ribeiro
Super welterweight
Brad Stanton bt Mohamed El Boukhari