Jose Aldo's wife Viviane Perreira gave some of the most incendiary quotes of Saturday's special Embedded episode on FOX. Oliveira said that she felt McGregor was a "psycho" and out of his mind.
Regarding her sentiment, Conor McGregor's coach believes Oliveira is on point.
"That's actually true," John Kavanagh told Ariel Helwani on Monday's edition of The MMA Hour. "He has lost his mind. He would openly admit that. When he's going in there, it's not sports. It's not like, 'Oh, I did my best.' He's going to the death."
Aldo and McGregor will fight in the main event of UFC 194 to unify the UFC featherweight title Saturday in Las Vegas. The two have been on a collision course now for more than a year. They were supposed to meet at UFC 189 in July, but Aldo pulled out due to a rib injury two weeks prior.
McGregor was also injured heading into that bout, according to his team. "The Notorious" has said he tore his ACL a few months before the bout and had little movement throughout his camp. He still beat Chad Mendes, who came in on short notice, via second-round knockout.
Kavanagh believes if Aldo had a chance against McGregor it would have been over the summer.
"I think it would have been a closer contest in July, but I still could only picture one winner," the coach said. "Just because of how Conor is. ... Even if he'd have been dragging himself around the Octagon on one leg ... I couldn't see anything else other than him winning."
McGregor is extremely confident going into this contest, even though it's by far the biggest one of his career. Aldo has not lost in 10 years. He's the only featherweight champion the UFC has ever known. The Brazilian is one of the top two best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet, with Jon Jones.
Still, Kavanagh said he would not be surprised if McGregor ends the proceedings prematurely.
"How many first-round knockouts does Conor have?" Kavanagh said. "He hits different. That's not my opinion. That's just a fact. If Aldo does get caught up in that storm, and meets him in the middle and trades, factually speaking one of the two will go down. That just is based on previous performances."
McGregor, 27, is a slight favorite, according to the odds. Many, though, have not given him much credit for even getting here. The Mendes win was impressive, but pundits will say Mendes came in on short notice and wasn't in proper shape. Kavanagh said one of the things he is most looking forward to after this fight is hearing what the doubters will say when, he believes, McGregor unifies the title and brings the belt back to Ireland.
"I genuinely am looking forward to this one as a fan, because I just get to sit in the corner and be quiet and watch," Kavanagh said. "I'm really looking forward to it. Things have changed, even in the last few weeks I've noted some changes in Conor. People are gonna be very surprised in this fight. There's lot that's gonna be happening. I'm looking forward to it."
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