Smartest Guy at the Bar: UFC 194 Edition

The MGM Grand Garden Arena’s storied history of spotlighting game-changing champions of lower-weight classes and marquee MMA fighters will converge on Saturday, as the only featherweight titleholder in Ultimate Fighting Championship history, Jose Aldo, welcomes promotional foil Conor McGregor to the UFC 194 main event. Theirs is the most anticipated fight of 2015 and perhaps the biggest bout under 170 pounds in the last seven years. The international clash in the Fight Capital of the World stands to be memorable on its own merits, even without the potential riot that may ensue from the unprecedented heat being placed on it.

HOW WE GOT HERE: At WEC 34 on June 1, 2008, Aldo began his reign as the best featherweight in the sport’s history. His current 15-fight winning streak includes nine knockouts and 10 title defenses, seven of them inside the UFC Octagon. Aldo’s 7-0 record in the UFC includes five decisions -- a departure from his 8-0 run in World Extreme Cagefighting that saw him score seven finishes. McGregor has zeroed in on that trend since his arrival in the UFC in April 2013. The Irishman, meanwhile, has stopped five of his six UFC opponents. They share a common foe from their last outing: Chad Mendes. Aldo and Mendes tangled for 25 minutes in October 2014, producing a “Fight of the Year” candidate. It was arguably Aldo’s best performance to date. None of it matters to McGregor, who believes the Brazilian’s time on top is up. His heat on Aldo only intensified when the champion missed their post-Fourth of July weekend date, this after the UFC had put all of its promotional might behind their fight. Both the UFC brass and McGregor questioned Aldo’s cracked rib, painting him as running scared despite his history of taking on the world’s best. When McGregor finished Mendes with punches in the second round at UFC 189 on July 11, Aldo wasn’t even in the building. McGregor was awarded a most dubious interim title, his persona growing in the process. Aldo sat unimpressed with his new challenger, the promotional deal with Reebok and how the UFC treats longstanding champions in comparison to newer hot shots.

NEXT-GEN USA MARQUEE: By dethroning Brazilian icon and all-time great Anderson Silva in July 2013, Chris Weidman became the poster boy for the middleweight division’s next generation. The blue-collar “All-American” has beaten the three best Brazilian fighters in his weight class -- Silva (twice), Lyoto Machida and Vitor Belfort -- during his run to the top. The Matt Serra-trained black belt is one of the few champions to capture UFC gold while undefeated, part of an esteemed class that includes Machida, Rashad Evans and Cain Velasquez. Weidman’s tear overshadowed Luke Rockhold, who claimed his spot as an elite middleweight by winning Strikeforce gold. Rockhold went from never having fought beyond undercards or Strikeforce Challengers Series events to facing Ronaldo Souza in a title-fight headliner in September 2011. The American Kickboxing Academy rep defeated the Brazilian over 25 grueling minutes, even though he had not gone out of the first round in any of his previous eight outings; and he did so following an 18-month layoff. Rockhold has continued dismissing top middleweights since, with the exception of a May 2013 loss to Belfort in his UFC debut. He has responded to the adversity with four consecutive finishes, punctuating that streak at the expense of Machida and Michael Bisping. Rockhold became a champion before Weidman, but few gave credence to his accomplishment of beating a top-shelf competitor like “Jacare.” Souza, you see, is not Silva. Therein lies his axe to grind against Weidman. This is Rockhold’s chance to legitimize his place as a true world champion, just as Weidman did in stopping Silva twice. East Coast champion meets West Coast challenger in this baby-face rivalry. It’s MMA’s answer to Biggie vs. Tupac.

GRAPPLER’S PARADISE: Souza will clash with the best world-level wrestler on the UFC roster, Yoel Romero, in a possible title eliminator at 185 pounds. “Jacare” and his eight-fight winning streak catch Romero after the Cuban demolished Machida with unendurable, split-second ground-and-pound at a UFC Fight Night event in June ... The strongest jiu-jitsu fight in the UFC’s welterweight division comes in the form of Demian Maia-Gunnar Nelson. Maia, 38, is 11 years Nelson’s elder. Seldom is there torch-passing potential within the same style, but this fight could be the exception if Nelson can shift Maia’s magnetic ground game away from victory ... On the flipside of the grappling paradise, featherweights Max Holloway and Jeremy Stephens are going to strike their way through the pay-per-view opener. It is a chance for them to get over against the true No. 1 contender fight between Frankie Edgar and Chad Mendes at “The Ultimate Fighter 22” Finale on Friday. Edgar and Mendes will not have the benefit of the UFC 194 shine.

SAY WHAT: McGregor was on his hype game during a pre-fight media luncheon in Los Angeles. “It’s been a good year for the company,” he said. “It’s been a damn good year for the company… because it’s not something all fighters bring. Not all fighters can bring them, know what I mean? A lot of them don’t even bring six figures a gate. I’m just stating my numbers. I love my numbers, and my numbers love me … I’m already ahead of the pack. The numbers don’t lie. I am ahead of the pack … I’m going to continue to grow this company. I’m going to continue to bring in these big, big numbers, until we hit those half a billion-dollar revenues in one show. That’s what I’m looking to do. I’m looking to bring in a half a billion dollars in money to this company per show -- similar to the [Floyd] Mayweather-[Manny] Pacquiao fight. I’m looking to do that, and I’m 27 years of age. I’m not 28 or 29. I have a long way to go, and I’m hungry. I’m hungrier than a mother[expletive], and I’m only getting better.”

AWARDS WATCH: Weidman-Rockhold is the “Fight of the Night.” That speaks to its quality because there are “Fight of the Night”-caliber scraps up and down the UFC 194 lineup, but none have the middleweight title on the line. “Performance of the Night” bonuses are drunken swings in the dark on a card so stacked, so look for Aldo and Urijah Faber -- “The California Kid” meets Frankie Saenz on the prelims -- to have good nights for the lower-weights’ older guard.

Danny Acosta is a SiriusXM Rush (Channel 93) host and contributor. His writing has been featured on Sherdog.com for nearly a decade. Find him on Twitter and Instagram @acostaislegend.