UFC 189 World Championship Tour Arrives In Toronto As Conor McGregor & Jose Aldo Hype July 11 Showdown

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Yesterday, the UFC 189 World Championship Tour made its third consecutive Canadian stop as Toronto’s Eaton Centre played host to a ruckus press conference that was hosted by UFC President Dana White and included UFC 189 participants Robbie Lawler, Rory MacDonald, Jose Aldo, and Conor McGregor.

The fighters answers questions from media members and fans in attendance ahead of the July 11 event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

In particular, the featherweight championship bout between Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor has received worldwide attention and it’s primarily because of the differences between the two combatants. While the champion generally tends to let his fighting speak for itself, the brash Irishman has used the UFC 189 World Championship Tour to cement his reputation as the biggest trash talker in the game.

“Jose is just another opponent, but I am excited for the gold,” McGregor told Inside Fights. “To raise that gold high for my country is to signify that we have taken over the fight game. Once again we are the fighting Irish. So it means everything for me so I am excited, but Fight Night, I will be calm, cold, collected and ruthless.”

For his part, Jose Aldo remained particularly mum but admitted that there wasn’t a need to further promote the fight upon the completion of the tour.

“After this, we’re going to go home,” said the champion. “We’re going to go back to the gym. There’s nothing really nothing more to sell. Everybody knows this is a big fight so just look forward to July 11.”

While the tension between Aldo and McGregor was almost palpable, it seemed like there was almost a professional camaraderie between Robbie Lawler and Rory MacDonald.

“When we do our staredowns, it’s pretty intense but July 11, that’s when all business is going to be put in the cage and I am going to go out there and try to take him out,” Lawler said. “That’s what I do. I don’t need to go out there and talk trash about Rory. He’s a hell of an opponent. I got a lot on my hands and I am going to get ready for him.”

All four fighters agreed that the hype surrounding UFC 189 isn’t slowing down (despite the event still being several months away).

“Well I don’t think it’s about keeping the level of buzz and hype, it’s about going out,” White said. “Tickets went on sale today. We went on this tour and then these guys will go into camp and we’ll see them a couple of weeks before the fight again.”

McGregor said that despite the tour wrapping up next week, UFC 189 is still the most highly-anticipated MMA event of the summer.

“This fight needs no introduction,” McGregor declared. “You don’t even need to sell this fight. This is a big big fight and it sells itself. I don’t think it dies out. The World Tour has been phenomenal. We have gone country to country to country, doing what we have never done before. And now myself and Jose will go into camp and we will prepare for war. The intensity will build with silence. There will be silence post this. There will be preparation. The intensity, if anything, will build.”

The UFC 189 World Championship Tour will have visited eight cities in five countries over the course of 12 days before it concludes on March 31 in McGregor’s hometown of Dublin, Ireland.

Murtz Jaffer is the world's foremost reality television expert and was the host of Reality Obsessed which aired on the TVTropolis and Global Reality Channels in Canada. He has professional writing experience at the Toronto Sun, National Post, TV Guide Canada, TOROMagazine.com and was a former producer at Entertainment Tonight Canada. He was also the editor at Weekendtrips.com.