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The green LEDs inside the inflatable tubes carrying the event title "McGregor vs. Siver", soared towards the Octagon from the nosebleeds of the TD Garden, like shooting stars in slow motion, as The Notorious rose from his mounted position on the defeated Dennis Siver without celebration.

Then he spotted him—the face to match the name that has been on the tip of his tongue ever since claiming the Cage Warriors 145 lbs title against Dave Hill in June 2012.

Suddenly, McGregor just bolted. Scaling the fence, a drove of security guards ran from all around the enclosure in an attempt to tame the aggressive advances of The Notorious.

There is a still image of the exchange that sums it up quite nicely. McGregor is being held back by security with his faced stretched wide with intensity as José Aldo smiles widely, laughing at his “court jester”—a memorable moment from the Boston event to say the least.

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Both men did exactly what they wanted through the interaction. McGregor let the champion know that he had entered new territory with the circus that follows the Irishman to each show and the extremes he goes to, to constantly unnerve his opponents and elate his audience. Aldo, on the other hand, had an understated reaction. His laughter in the face of McGregor’s aggression exuded calmness—this will not be his first rodeo.

In the lead up to his last defense against Chad Mendes at UFC 179, the Brazilian shoved the Team Alpha Male proponent when they faced off at a media day held in the Maracana Stadium. While many felt the featherweight duo did a good job of building up the tension before the big fight, Dana White certainly wasn’t one of them.

“I think that guys just shouldn’t try,” said White on The Download after the Aldo and Mendes incident. “Chael had it. Conor McGregor has it. This guy can fight and talk. I think some of the guys that can’t talk as well as others think they have to talk more. No you don't. You need to be a great fighter.

“As long as you're a great fighter, nobody gives a shit about that other stuff. Yes, some guys may stand out a little more, but if you have the talent you’re going to get where you want to go anyway.”

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Although White may have had his doubts about Aldo and Mendes, McGregor’s confrontation of Aldo after his Siver win certainly had realness to it. Both Aldo and McGregor mean something more to their countrymen than other fighters, which was evident when Irishman took a Q and A session ahead of UFC 179 in Brazil, and likewise, when Aldo took to the stage in Boston for his Q and A in front of the Irish fans.

The questions directed at both Aldo and McGregor were more insult than inquiry and chants sporadically started during both sessions. It had a celebratory feel to it, the very thought of the bout had both sets of fans—Brazilian and Irish—in a frenzy.

With respect to Werdum’s interim heavyweight title, Aldo is the last of UFC’s Brazilian undisputed champions and he is all that stands in the way of Ireland seeing their first crowned.

There is a lot on the line for both men, and as far as projections are concerned, ‘Mystic Mac’ has already forecast that his meeting with Aldo will obtain more buys than Jones vs. Cormier—the colossal light heavyweight bout that had a public brawl serve as its main source of advertisement. McGregor’s Octagon-side confrontation will probably be replayed to a similar effect.

Set to be the biggest featherweight showdown of all time given McGregor’s viewing statistics, UFC Fight Night: McGregor vs. Siver was the most watched UFC event in Fox Sports 1 history, the contest will undoubtedly be featherweight duos’ largest ever payday. That in itself makes the bout important in terms of both athletes’ legacies.

To add to that, stylistically, the matchup is a very intriguing clash. Aldo has sent wrestlers packing throughout his tenure in UFC. Bettering Mendes twice as well as Edgar and Lamas, all who were deemed the biggest threats to his title, in McGregor he meets someone that seems just as devastating as he did when originally rose through the ranks with the WEC.

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The Notorious Conor McGregor is the greatest striker that the Brazilian has met and his style has been purpose built to stifle the Thai approach that Aldo’s game has been constructed around. That being said, Aldo is without a doubt the biggest test of McGregor’s career, of any of featherweight’s for that matter.

A victory for Aldo will further cement him as the greatest featherweight of all time, but not only that, he will become the man who stopped McGregor. The SBG man has sent shockwaves through the whole division and to be the man who beat him would certainly mean a lot to Aldo. So many people want to see the Irishman fight, whether it is to see him succeed or fail, but the Brazilian will certainly be bolstered if his hand is raised after their meeting.

It’s hard to see the McGregor fan base completely falling apart if he fails to beat Aldo, but his win streak is certainly one of the things that has attracted hoards of fans to him, including a plethora of support from his home nation who previously had little or no interest in MMA. A loss would be bad for business, no doubt about it.

For the former Cage Warriors double weight world champion, a win would usher in the "McGregor era". Already one of the premier draws on the UFC roster, a championship belt would only add to the allure of the outspoken contender.

I wouldn’t be too surprised if we saw the eventual loser of the bout move up a weight division, although a win for McGregor would almost certainly be followed by a rematch given the stranglehold Aldo has had on the division as UFC’s only featherweight champion to date.

It just seems like the fight that the featherweight division needs and the fight that the majority of people want to see. In Boston, rarely did people ask about how McGregor matched up with Siver, even before the contest the Irish were primarily concerned with one man—Aldo.

“Conor’s gonna get ya,” they chanted at the champion during the Q and A session held at the Orpheum Theatre the day before the fight at the TD Garden. Again, taking a media scrum on the day of the event, Aldo heard the same chorus and the Irish didn’t even know he was in the building at that stage.

Aldo smiled when the questions finished up, gesturing towards the noise outside. Almost like he was happy with the passion of the Irish fans, something he may see in his own Brazilian fan base. It remains to be seen whether the noble smile of the featherweight king will still be present after the two meet, but rest assured, the whole MMA universe will tune in to see if it is.

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