London Face Off: McGregor taunts Aldo about not bringing belt
At the Face Off in London with Aldo, McGregor taunts the Brazilian for not bringing his belt.
You forgot your belt. You forgot your belt…It’s a mental sign. It’s ok, it’s a mental sign….
To reporters:
He hasn’t wanted a hold of that belt for the whole trip. He wants it away from him. You haven’t wanted to hold it. Translate that for him.
UFC 194: McGregor defeats Aldo
McGregor defeats Aldo in 13 seconds, the fastest finish in any UFC title fight.
As the fight starts McGregor takes the center of the octagon. McGregor misses a straight left hand, followed with a leg kick that connects. As Aldo hits with a right-left punch combination, McGregor connects his first punch then hist Aldo’s chin with a left hook that leaves Aldo unconscious. As Aldo falls to the ground, McGregor connects with two hammer fists before the referee stops the fight. Within a minute, Aldo regains consciousness.
Aldo: McGregor will be shamed
Aldo says he expected McGregor to return to featherweight and fight him, and surprised when the UFC offered him an interim title fight at UFC 200 against Frankie Edgar instead.
You know as an athlete obviously it’s good because I get to fight, but as a fan it sucks. There’s not much I can say but it really doesn’t have any logic behind it. To me it makes no sense really. Because everyone thought he was going to come back and defend his title and now he’s fighting Nate again. It’s a fight that doesn’t get anyone, anywhere. It doesn’t get Conor anywhere. It doesn’t get Nate anywhere. So it really makes no sense, I don’t know what’s going on…I don’t think there’s any way for [the outcome] to be different. We saw what happened last time. Maybe the only difference is that Nate is going to be even better prepared and Conor’s shame is going to be even greater…He needs to come back to featherweight. There’s no way he can just hold onto that belt for a long time.
Claims McGregor ‘full of juice’
Aldo claims McGregor was using banned substances prior to his fight at March 5.
The fight was not at featherweight. Why would I rematch him in a different weight class with no belt? Now, to make this fight at 155, where he was full of juice in his body, where he hides and nobody tests him, only when he gets to Las Vegas, a week before the fight, and then it’s way easier for you to clean the body and fight. They offered the fight knowing that I wasn’t trained at all. I can’t say anything. I can train, beat Frankie Edgar and then know that I’ve earned my fight for the title again.
On trying to get a rematch:
We called and texted him every day (asking for the rematch) and nothing. There was no talk for a month…They already had in mind who to put against Conor. That’s the path they try to follow, and it’s kind of dirty to me. There’s no negotiation. We ask, and not always we get a response. When they respond is like that, and then they say they love us. It’s a bit weird. But what can I do?”
He thinks Diaz will win.
He’s used to this weight. It’s really hard to move up in weight and continue winning. It’s going to be different now that Nate will be more prepared. He can do his thing, anything he wants, from start to end.
Aldo: McGregor media no-show ‘proves how weak he is’
Also criticizes McGregor for not participating in UFC 200 media.
It proves how weak he is. I don’t see him as an athlete, I don’t respect him. In my opinion, he’s weaker than everything he always said.
Edgar’s plan: Beat Aldo, fight McGregor at MSG
Edgar says that when he beats Aldo in UFC 200, he wants to fight McGregor in UFC 205, on November 12 at Madison Square Garden. McGregor would have to fight at 145 pounds.
You can’t write something better than that. Why wouldn’t Conor want to fight at MSG? There’s definitely a big Irish contingency in New York and it could be possibly biggest fight UFC history. At 145, he has everything to lose. At 170 he has nothing to lose, even though Nate is a ’55 pounder and they decided not to cut weight, so they can market going up two weight classes which is ridiculous since he’s a 55 pounder … at ’45, if he loses, he has nothing. He has a hard time making the weight. If he goes to 55 he’s not going to be in the title talks for awhile..
On Aldo:
I’m going to show up July 9 to fight. Whoever it may be. Obviously I want it to be Jose Aldo I think he deserves it and that’s the fight I want. Based on the fact I was close to beating him last time, so there’s a little revenge in the air and whatnot. To be so dominant for this long, and then to lose like that, Conor is worst guy to lose to in that fashion. He already let the world know before and he let the world know after. He digs better than anybody. Some guys get through it and some guys don’t.
Aldo wants McGregor fight after UFC 200
Aldo says he will follow McGregor to the lightweight division.
Not only would I like it, we are going after it. We need to make it happen. The first fight wasn’t as expected. Hopefully, we will win that belt – that needs to be my goal now – but after I reclaim it, I think about that. Not only me, but I think the UFC will do it. There’s nowhere to run.
Aldo: I’ll catch McGregor ‘in the street’ to get rematch
Aldo says he’ll do whatever it takes to get a rematch with McGregor. When asked if he would retire before a rematch with McGregor:
No way. Only if he stops fighting. As long as he’s in the UFC, this fight will happen. That’s a fact. We will get the belt back and be champion again…We’ll move up. The UFC will do this fight. It doesn’t matter at which weight. I don’t care…[Even if he walks away] We catch him in the street. No matter how, we will fight. [expletive] it.
Calls out McGregror
After his win against Frankie Edgar, Aldo immediately exchanges words with McGregor, who is sitting at the ringside.
Our new interim champ @JoseAldoJunior spent no time in calling out @TheNotoriousMMA at #UFC200 https://t.co/MXCIxD7Wc0
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) July 10, 2016
Aldo: McGregor ‘not going to be as lucky next time’
Also says he is set on beating McGregor in a rematch.
I have one goal and which is to be champion. It’s to beat that (expletive) and he can be sure that next time I catch him here he’s not going to be as lucky as he was the first time. I was born to be the champion, if I’m the interim champion or whatever I was always the champion. If I get the fight next with him I’m going to still be the champion.
Cruz wants fight against Aldo or McGregor
Cruz says his fans want him to fight Aldo or McGregor.
Aldo looked better than I’ve ever seen him look, in any of his fights, this last time against Edgar. That is a challenge and that’s what I’m here for…The people that I want to fight are because fans are interested in it. I know they are. I know they’re interested in me maybe fighting Aldo. Me maybe fighting for the pound-for-pound No. 1 spot against a guy I already beat for five rounds in Demetrious Johnson. He’s hurt, who knows if that can happen or not. I’m just saying. That’s a money fight people would want to see. I know that if Conor McGregor comes out healthy and Aldo gets hurt before they’re supposed to meet up, the fans would want to see me fight Conor McGregor. I know fans would want to see that fight.
Kavanagh: McGregor will beat Aldo again
Despite his admiration for Aldo’s performance, Kavanagh says he does not expect a different outcome when Aldo meets McGregor, most likely in November. He also expresses his regret at the fact that Edgar was unable to get the job done against Aldo.
Probably I had a little personal vision or dream of it being Edgar going in and doing amazing against Aldo…It would have been just amazing. As storylines go, that would have been really, really exciting. Really, really interesting. But I guess Aldo showed he had ‘The Answer’ again, and I think Aldo — I said this in the lead-up to Conor’s fight — is one of the best in the world at beating short wrestlers…There are certain things he’s doing that are really, really brilliant, but then on the other side I look at it and go, ‘It’s pretty much the same guy that [Conor] beat the last time’. It’s not the most unpredictable style — Muay Thai, defensive wrestling. It just looked a very similar guy…I think [Aldo] has improved a lot at beating that sort of guy again, but Conor’s not a short wrestler. I’m sure Aldo will have a more tempered approach the next time. I think the first time he did certain things that I don’t think he will do the second time. It will be very hard to beat 13 seconds the second time but he will definitely want to show his dominance and that it wasn’t a lucky punch.
Aldo: McGregor MSG rematch ‘highly likely’
Aldo says that a win by McGregor in Las Vegas would prevent them from fighting each other at UFC 205 at Madison Square Garden, but that expects Diaz to win.
If he loses (to Diaz), it’s highly likely that they put us to fight on November 12, at Madison Square Garden. The Irish community is big over there. But if he wins, I think they will do a third fight between them and ruin all my plans…If I had to bet, it would be Nate [who wins] again. From what I saw he’s way bigger, stronger, and he’s training. He got that fight on short notice and still was able to win. Well trained, it’s really hard for McGregor. If you look at (Diaz’s) fights, even when he’s getting beat, he finds a way to come back. If I had to bet, it would be Nate…I’m rooting for [McGregor] to lose, of course. If he wins, they will do another rematch with Nate, and that’s bad. He has to lose. He has to lose. He will lose.
Aldo trainer questions McGregor doping
Aldo’s trainer, Pederneiras, says his offer to pay for tests to be performed three times a week on Aldo and McGregor was rejected.
Conor went two months and two days without being tested before the fight with Aldo, and I was asking, asking, and asking but nothing was done. [Both fighters were tested four times, but only in the last two to three weeks, when McGregor was already in Los Angeles for the fight, while] Aldo was tested in the right way. I’m telling and challenging his trainer – test Conor seriously, I want to see if he makes weight. I can’t accuse anyone without having certainty. It would be frivolous to accuse someone without being certain. But, at the very least, it’s strange.
Aldo reveals McGregor taunt
Aldo reveals what he told McGregor after he beat Frankie Edgar in UFC 200.
It was spontaneous. I knew he was there. When I was fighting, I saw him between rounds, I saw him there. So, when the fight was over, I only said ‘You’re next.’
Aldo: ‘Come back down or drop the belt’
Aldo says McGregor should defend his title at 145 pounds, or drop the belt.
Where you at @TheNotoriousMMA? Come back down and I'll see you at UFC205 or drop the belt! #hitandrun
— Jose Aldo Junior (@josealdojunior) August 21, 2016
McGregor:
How long was I going back and forth with José? That must have been a two-year build-up. He pulled out, last-minute. I continued to fight someone else, then we rescheduled a two-year, ‘round the world deal with that boy. And then he stepped in and I beat him in 13 seconds. It’s hard for me to get excited about that, especially after his last performance. It was a decision. He didn’t go out and get it like I wanted him to get it. So, I don’t know.
White: No trilogy fight
White says he does not want McGregor to fight again Diaz again in a “trilogy” fight. Instead he wants McGregor to defend his title against interim champ Aldo. He says McGregor has two options — either fight Aldo or surrender his title to him — or cut weight to 155 and fight Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight title.
The war was fun and super successful but I’m movin’ on.
Aldo: McGregor ‘a normal, quiet guy’
Aldo says that, during the promo tour for UFC 189, he got to see a different side of McGregor, contradicting his many complaints about McGregor’s conduct in the past.
[The relationship] is friendly, quiet. For me, I see no problem with him doing his marketing, and seeing the financial side, it was very good. If I had more fights with him in the featherweight division, it would be very profitable, but I am not his friend, he can go one way and I go to the other. I’ve seen him stand facing the wall, staring at nothing and everyone trying to provoke him, and he has a glazed look. He’s a normal, quiet guy, but if you see a camera or an Irish person close, he turns. Outside you see him laughing, joking, talking usual — but then he turns in such a way that you think: ‘son of a bitch’…Sometimes you play jokes and he is laughing. There was one day we sat and he said to get coffee, and I said I wanted sugar, and he answered like: ‘good’. I met him recently at a hotel, he was eating breakfast and I said I wanted barbecue, he said it was his breakfast, of course. But most of the time we met, there was always someone [with a camera] shooting, so he had to keep it up. But with no camera, the face changes completely.
Prays every night for McGregor rematch
Aldo says he prays every night for a chance at a McGregor rematch, but will settle for a fight with Pettis.
Every night I ask god ‘Please give me another chance. Let me get into the octagon against him. I know it will be different this time’…[However] If [a fight with McGregor] doesn’t end up happening, I do rather a fight against [Anthony] Pettis. I think nowadays…I learned a few things with [the UFC]. There’s more than just the ranking, like there is a ranking order for title-shots. No. I have to tend to the business side too. I think a fight against Pettis will sell a lot more than one against Holloway.
The pair were supposed to meet for Aldo’s featherweight crown at UFC 163 in August of 2013, but Pettis withdrew with a knee injury.
White wants McGregor-Aldo, Nurmagomedov-Alvarez
White says he plans to have Alvarez defend his belt against Nurmagomedov, and McGregor to defend his belt against Aldo. Nurmagomedov says he has signed two contracts to fight Alvarez: one for UFC 205 in New York in November and another to fight him at UFC 206 in Toronto in December. However, Alvarez wants to fight McGregor, and McGregor appears to want to fight Alvarez. Reports of a McGregor injury affecting the fight are dismissed by White:
Conor’s foot is hurt, but he thinks he can fight. I want him to fight Aldo.
Nurmagomedov:
Alvarez wants to fight McGregor, because it’s an easy fight and it’s a lot of money to fight him. But he has to fight me. Dana White has told me, ‘He is fighting you. He has to fight you.’ His record is only 2-1 in the UFC and he loses like a chicken to Cowboy [Cerrone]. How did he even get a title shot? I don’t know why he is so scared to fight me…I would have to be careful in the first [round] because he does punch hard. In the second, I would start to catch him and in the third, I’d finish him. Mentally, he’s already lost to me…All I want is 25 minutes in the cage with Alvarez…Put me in a cage somewhere with him and lock the door. Then I can show the world who the best really is.