In the greatest promotional tour in MMA history, Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor completed an eight city, 12 day adventure across Brazil, North America and Europe promoting UFC 189.
There were many great moments from the tour, and I have compiled what I believe to be the Top 10 Greatest Moments.
Feel free to agree and disagree, as I’m sure there’s one or two gems that could easily replace any of these moments on the list.
#10. Strawberry on Steroids
When you hear UFC fighters talk about steroids, it usually doesn’t involve fruit. Jose Aldo and his Muay-Thai trainer Alex Chadud went back and forth talking about the irregular size of a strawberry. Aldo responded with the funny and topical one-liner, “That one wouldn’t pass the doping test.”
#9. McGregor at an Irish bar in Brazil
Our second moment on the list is from the very first stop on the tour, Brazil. McGregor visited an Irish bar and was up to his usual antics. His shirt came off, he threw darts at a picture of the UFC Featherweight Champion, all making for great moments (and great pictures). This moment really set the tone for the rest of the tour.
#8. UFC Embedded Inception
When I watch the UFC Embedded videos, I feel like I’m watching some type of behind the scenes footage of the greatest fighting show on earth. It’s like watching the outtakes of your favorite sitcom. Conor McGregor broke the 4th wall in one episode of Embedded by watching and reacting to a previous episode. How deep will the Embedded Inception go?
#7. The Neck Grab
Why not take four of the deadliest fighters on the planet and put them together in the same room as a morning show? Does that sounds like a terrible idea? Yeah, it was awkward as hell to watch, but the worst part was the decision to have McGregor sit behind Aldo. It didn’t last long as McGregor put his hand on Aldo’s neck, which Aldo didn’t take kindly to.
#6. McGregor and the Glass Window
In many sports, athletes have their superstitions. One of the biggest superstitions is to not touch the championship before you have won it. It seems like if we’ve learned one thing from the world tour, it’s that McGregor isn’t superstitious. McGregor did everything to get his hands on Aldo’s belt, and in this scene, he taunts Aldo through a glass window, holding his championship.
#5. Aldo and the Talking Toilet Seat
Who knew that Jose Aldo was such a funny guy? The Embedded series was the perfect avenue for Aldo to show off his personality. In a great scene, Aldo is explaining to the cameraman how the toilet responds to vocal commands. What I still don’t understand is how a toilet in Las Vegas can understand Portuguese?
#4. The First Face-Off
We knew that Aldo and McGregor were going to be very heated. The question was, how heated would both fighters start out? Would things start off softly and eventually reach a peak towards the end of the tour? Nope, not even close. The first stare-down was just as intense as the last.
#3. The Deafening Irish
It wasn’t the first time that a crowd was loud enough to interrupt a press conference, but it was the most effective. Never have we seen a crowd completely steal the show. The Irish faithful were chanting, cheering and had absolute control of the space. Click here to see it for yourself.
#2. Aldo’s Middle Finger
Yeah, things were a little bit intense the first time these guys met after exchanging words at UFC Fight Night: Boston. Aldo decided that instead of talking, he’d let his hands do the work. A kiss to the crowd, followed up by the smoothest middle finger ever pulled off by man. Aldo got the better of McGregor in Rio, so what could McGregor pull off in Dublin?
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#1. McGregor Grabs the Championship in Dublin
We all knew that the Dublin press conference was going to be something special. The crowd was into it, the fighters were excited, but we needed that one extra thing to really hit it out of the park, and leave fans with a strong image in their mind. I’ll let the picture speak for itself.
July 11th can’t come fast enough.
