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Wouldn't surprise me at all.What would they do, throw in Conor instead? And make Ferguson vs Poirier, the battle of the interims?
The comparison is somewhat valid BUT:What do you make of the many parallels between Israel Adesanya's rise and Conor McGregor's rise from a story stand point?
Robert Whittaker (the undisputed champion) is sidelined due to illness which forces an interim bout between Israel and Kelvin. Jose Aldo (Undisputed champion) is sidelined due to injury and it forces interim bout between Conor and Mendes.
Both Conor McGregor and Israel were both coming off of weak wins in which they were both heavy favorites of. (Anderson Silva & Dennis Siver) and were now stepping up against guys who were shorter than them + had heavy hands and great wrestling.
Although both favored, majority of the hard core fans believed Kelvin and Chad would get the wins in the fights. Even after Israel and Conor won, many people still aren't sold on either guy being legit enough to beat the undisputed champ.
Also both Whittaker and Aldo were coming off VERY close fights. Whittaker was dropped several times in a war vs Romero & Aldo was cracked several times in his rematch with Mendes before facing Conor the next year.
Aside from their interim bouts, neither guy faced highly ranked opponents. Conor fought Poirier and Siver, Israel fought Tavares and Brunson. Neither had a really "tough" match up until it came title fight time.
Also:
Israel = Conor (the "hype train")
Kelvin = Chad (guy who will shut down hype train)
Whittaker = Aldo (humble champion who is dominant)
Frankie = Romero (the guy they are being "protected" from).