Here’s a special edition of My Heel Turn… I talk about wrestling so much that I forget to bring up my Other Passion and that’s MMA. How could I possibly forget where I came from…
Let’s talk about something that I have ABSOLUTELY LOVED this entire week and that’s the Build up for UFC 189: Aldo VS McGregor. Fellow marks, follow me on this now… You will be hooked even if you’re not a fan…
First off you have the challenger, Connor McGregor, who is the BIGGEST heel in MMA and could possibly be a big heel in the world of wrestling some day if that were to ever happen! He talks a lot of trash and backs it up. He gets into his opponents heads and is very entertaining in the process. Not to mention He can cut a Promo and can fight! McGregor is head and shoulders above any fight personality with the exception of Floyd Mayweather.
Then there’s the Reigning, Defending, Undisputed… UFC Featherweight champion of the World (Kinda took a page from Heyman) Jose Aldo, who hasn’t been defeated since 2005. Aldo isn’t much of a trash talker, not due to the fact that he speaks little English, but it’s not in his nature. However, with an upcoming opponent like McGregor, you have to defend yourself with the verbal warfare.
Now granted this fight is not until July 11th but the UFC are already promoting this with a World Title Tour and putting out a miniseries on YouTube promoting the fight called UFC Embedded. This is a stroke of genius to document this promotional tour, this is maybe the most successful promotional job any company has ever done. If you’re not an MMA fan, this might make you find an interest in this fight.
The UFC had produced 10, 5-7 minute episodes documenting the world tour starting in Brazil, hitting cities like Vegas, LA, NYC, Boston, London and wrapping up in Ireland.
Now I know some of the Marks who read this aren’t a fan of MMA or only followed it because of Lesnar or are following to see CM Punk, but I highly suggest to invest the time and watch these Episodes of UFC Embedded. Now this is the MMA World which is different from Pro wrestling, but maybe the WWE should take a page out of the UFC’s book on how to build a fight. WrestleMania was everything I hoped it would be, amazing… but the build up was not one of their best and could have been better.
This build up to UFC 189 has that car wreck mentality where you can’t look away once you see it. I promise that when you watch episode 1 of UFC Embedded, there is no way you will turn down watching the others. Both Participants in this fight were phenomenal on making the viewers believe that this is the biggest event EVER. What also sold this fight was in episode 1, the key line that wasn’t what McGregor said, yet he did say a lot, but it was Aldo, after the stare down, in the back, and you just hear the words in broken English “I’m mad now”….. If I’m the UFC, I’m seeing nothing but Dollar signs!
My favorite part of this whole thing was not just the constant heel like trash talking from McGregor, but in Episode 10, in front of thousands of Irish Fans, McGregor steals the title belt from Aldo… And not in the cartoonish style of stealing a belt used to build the IC title match at Mania. This place blew up, and the crowd lost their mind! If that doesn’t sell you than you don’t have a pulse because you’re not human.
These two men have done one of the best build ups for a fight or even any wrestling match I can recall. Paul Heyman did an amazing job selling us on WrestleMania, but this build up for UFC 189 eclipses it by a long shot. The promotional tour and the UFC Embedded miniseries has set the expectation levels extremely high and I suggest all wrestling fans to give it a chance and watch and I’m sure it won’t just be Lesnar or CM Punk discussed when the UFC is brought up. I am emotionally invested into this event and we are only 3 months away.
Get your popcorn ready, here’s episode one… Remember there’s 9 more after! http://youtu.be/A0UFUhsSsXU
That’s my Heel Turn!
The Heel Turn Wrestling Blog 