This Friday on Rewind-A-Wai, Wai Ting and I will be reviewing UFC 194 from December 2015 and headlined by Jose Aldo vs. Conor McGregor for the UFC featherweight title.
This event was chosen by Espresso Executive Producer Joshua Martin and will join us to discuss his choice of this event.
PLUS: We will be joined by MMA analyst and our former colleague Robin Black to chat about covering this event and his interview with Conor McGregor days before the fight with his prediction of how he would beat Aldo.
UFC 194 Saturday, December 12th, 2015 Las Vegas at MGM Grand Garden Arena
*Jose Aldo vs. Conor McGregor for the UFC featherweight title
*Chris Weidman vs. Luke Rockhold for the UFC middleweight title
*Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza vs. Yoel Romero
*Demian Maia vs. Gunnar Nelson
*Max Holloway vs. Jeremy Stephens
I remember watching this show when it took place and how the main event took me by surprise. I wasnt following UFC as closely so i didnt understand what the buzz about conor mcgregor was and his approach. I remember dave melzter saying at this time about the rise of conor that “if you don’t know what Conor is doing your out of touch”. in my opinion Aldo has never recovered after this loss.
2 questions
John, with hindsight being 20/20, was it a good move for UFC to replace Mike Goldberg with Jon Anik now it being almost 2 years since the switch.
Wai, which music editing do you think kills the feel of old shows, WWE Network or UFC FIght Pass
I was at a Buffalo Wild Wings bar the night of UFC 194 and the place came unglued when McGregor KO’ed Jose Aldo thirteen seconds in. However, my bout of that night was Rockhold vs. Weidman without a doubt. The fight was the expected war between two badass athletes and fighters in their primes. Watching this back on Fight Pass, it made me really miss Mike Goldberg as the play-by-play and IMG completely dropped the ball by doing that. However, the undercard was a bit underwhelming and the Jeremy Stephens-Max Holloway fight wasn’t exciting. I really do feel for those watching at home who paid $60 looking forward to that main event, but still a good card nonetheless. I give this event 8 bald-head Joe Rogans out of 10.
P.S. Do you both have UFC Fight Pass and what else in their library would you recommend checking out because I just started the free trial.
Thank you guys so much for doing an MMA review and please don’t hesitate to do more of these in the near future.
When people think about UFC 194, the first thing that comes to mind is naturally the Aldo/McGregor fight, but going into this event I was much more excited for Weidman/Rockhold. After the fight was over I remember being so sure that Rockhold wouldn’t be losing that belt for a long time.
I scored the Romero/Souza fight for Jacare, and I maintain that Jacare was the best middleweight in the world from 2014 to 2017. It’s a shame he never got that title shot. I guess 13th ranked, 46 year old Dan Henderson deserved it more.
Also big wins for Max Holloway and Demian Maia on this card. Maia is so good, it’s really a treat to see him grapple and props to Gunnar Nelson for hanging in there. Additionally, Kevin Lee and Colby Covington taking rough losses on the prelims. It’s so interesting to look back on these cards and see where fighters careers have gone since.