We'll say this for UFC 206, it is lucky it is in fight-mad Toronto or it would struggle to fill half the stadium.
Anthony Pettis and Max Holloway will consider themselves main event men but it is somewhat unfair to foist a massive PPV on their shoulders and ask them to step up their preparations from three to five featherweight rounds. The sweetener here is an interim belt that neither man holds much stock in.
By winning in Toronto on Saturday night, either Pettis or Holloway will get the next crack at newly installed featherweight champion José Aldo. That was always the likely outcome anyway but the promotion need a title fight to get the pay-per-views in.
Pettis is seeking to become only the fourth man in UFC history [after Randy Couture, B.J Penn and Conor McGregor] to win titles at different weight classes. He previously held the lightweight belt before falling to Rafael Dos Anjos.
Asked what he made of McGregor, who had to give up his featherweight belt after UFC 205, walking around [
and boarding flights] with both belts over his shoulder, Pettis' answer was understandably frank:
"How can you [say anything about it]? The world saw what he did. How can you erase the world's memory of what he did?
"My job is to fight and to take the fights they put in front of me. That's what I'm going to do this weekend."
https://youtu.be/rv8ytiUptUE
As for McGregor, he has been promoting a fitting emoji for the weekend that's in it.
https://twitter.com/TheNotoriousMMA/status/806690641216471041
Looking good.
Diarmuid Connolly makes his long overdue GAA Hour debut and talks to Colm Parkinson about everything from the black card to his rivalry with Lee Keegan and how he honed the ability to kick accurately with either foot.
