McGregor congratulates Aldo
McGregor congratulates Aldo on his win over Jeremy Stevens.
I’m so happy for him. To see the joy he had after [the win]… It’s a crazy business and I know he’s gone through a lot of stuff, so to see him come back with that great finish, I was very happy for him and his coach Andre Pederneiras. The whole of Ireland was happy for Jose Aldo that night.
Aldo: Strip McGregor if title if he doesn’t defend it
Aldo says the UFC should strip McGregor of his lightweight belt if he doe not defend it.
Thank God my division is moving. It would be bad if it was stuck, but my division is moving. It’s hard, right? Every athlete dreams of becoming champion, fighting for the title, and the guy is holding up the division. But it’s up to the UFC to make the decisions. The UFC needs to do what has to be done: you take the belt away or make him defend it. I think everyone is waiting for that…He has to defend it, has to put his belt on the line in order to become champion. He only won the title. For me, Ferguson has great possibilities of becoming champion in the future.
Aldo: No moral victory in McGregor’s loss
Aldo speaks about the series of laugh-crying emojis he tweeted in the moments after McGregor lost to Mayweather.
First of all, I didn’t even watch the fight. I was at a football game… I don’t know. I have people who take care of my social media… You know every athlete has people who handle their social media – who work their social media.
And the ex-champ says he wasn’t particularly surprised when he heard the result.
Conor doesn’t have good cardio, and (they) knew he’s not used to boxing. Mayweather was closed up, just waiting for the time to pounce. The guy hadn’t fought for two years. He didn’t even prepare for the fight.
Asked if thought McGregor won a moral victory by lasting ten rounds:
Of course not. Moral? First of all, you try to prove that with someone who’s almost 41, who’s been away (from the sport). Of course, it was a money fight. A moral victory would have been taking on an active boxer, a champion, and then fought him. And then you’d see how he would barely last a round. Because it’s an entirely different sport. We need to put ourselves in our places. I’m an MMA athlete. I can’t go tomorrow and say I’m going to do muay Thai in Thailand with a Thai fighter, because I can punch and kick well. There’s no way. Each one in their places. I respect martial arts, so I put myself in my place. I don’t see a moral victory.
Aldo: ‘McGregor was never a champion of anything’
Aldo says:
McGregor was never a champion of anything. He defeated the champion and left. A real champion has to defend (the belt). I speak for (Max) Holloway because, win or lose (against Frankie Edgar), he will be there fighting. I’m happy that Holloway is the champion. An example, someone who deserved being where he is.
Holloway: Aldo hits harder than McGregor
Holloway speaks about his experiences facing both Aldo and McGregor, and says of the two Aldo is the hardest hitter.
We saw a bunch of things in José’s game that I thought I could take advantage of and that we did. His favourite tool to use are the leg-kick and the knee. After the first round I told my corner ‘he’s not that fast’ but his explosiveness is quick. He’s definitely the hardest hitter I’ve ever felt and his hands are huge.
Lobov calls out Aldo
After losing by decision to Cub Swanson, Lobov targets Aldo for his next fight.
Dont mean 2 kick u while ur down,but realistically I am as close to Conor as u could get. Forget everything and lets do it! It'be an honour
— Artem Lobov (@RusHammerMMA) June 7, 2017
Aldo releases post-fight statement
Aldo releases a statement after his loss to Holloway, quoting Spanish philosopher Baltasar Gracián and re-affirming his intentions of fighting again.
“Be content to act, and leave the talking to others” – Baltasar Gracian. I only have to thank my ‘dad’ Andre Pederneiras, the best team in the world, Nova Uniao, because if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be the people’s champion, and (thank) all my trainers, who did a super well done job and got me ready, and all my fans who are always with me, here’s my love and my thank you. I’m speechless with all the love I’ve received until today, and every word you send to me. Thank you.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BU-CQerDJ8H/
Analysis: Was McGregor’s Aldo victory a fluke?
A fan creates a video to address comments that McGregor’s victory over Aldo was the result of a fluke punch. The video shows, using video from previous McGregor and Aldo fights, that McGregor baited Aldo, taking advantage of moves Aldo had used in earlier fights.
Kavanagh: Holloway will defeat Aldo ‘convincingly’ this weekend
Coach Kavanagh says Holloway will have no trouble beating Aldo in the upcoming main event at UFC 212 to become the undisputed featherweight champion.
I’ve said it since Conor fought him: apart from Conor, Max Holloway is the second-best guy at 145 [pounds]. I think Holloway will win convincingly. There are a lot of similarities in both of their styles, in terms of being busy strikers who are used to guys trying to take them down. Max is maybe a little bit more dangerous when it comes to submissions. He’ll go for guillotines and stuff on takedowns, whereas Aldo is almost exclusively about defending the takedown. I think Max has grown a lot too. Even since Conor fought him he has improved. Aldo tends to do better against short, stocky wrestlers. He seems to have the perfect game for that. I don’t know if there’s somebody of that style who could possibly beat him. He’s almost perfect for that style. But here he is again, in against somebody he very rarely faces: a taller, striking-based opponent. We might see Aldo having to struggle and look for takedowns. I actually think that will be Aldo’s approach, that he’ll try to grapple. But I think Holloway will either defend them, make him uncomfortable with submission attempts, or else he’ll be able to keep it on the feet and win a decision. I think that’s how it’ll play out: Holloway by decision.
Aldo coach: Aldo wants to fight, even box, McGregor
Pederneiras, Also’s coach says that Aldo will fight McGregor in MMA or in boxing.
It was just difficult because after his fight with Frankie {Edgar], he wanted Conor. But Conor wouldn’t accept the fight, and after that, Aldo started to think about retirement…[Jose] wants to be a world champion in boxing. He thinks he can do it. He wants to fight Conor again, though. Maybe win the 155-pound championship. If Conor came back, he would need to fight [Aldo]. He was fighting at 145 pounds and Aldo won the interim title. Conor left and went to 155. If he was the champion at 155, would Conor leave for another division again? Leave the sport? I don’t know. If he goes to 170 pounds, Aldo says he will go to fight anybody at 170, to be the next contender for Conor. He just wants to fight Conor and that’s it…We want a fight with Conor McGregor. But it’s hard to get. We know that. We know he doesn’t ever want to fight Aldo again. Maybe in boxing. Maybe he’d accept a boxing match. When we were meeting with Dana, he told us, ‘Conor does not want to fight you. I tried everything to put him into a fight with you. I can’t put a gun to his head.’ That’s the word, from Dana to us. Dana told that to Aldo, directly.
Aldo: McGregor rematch ‘will never happen’
In advance of his June 3 fight with Max Holloway, Aldo says he doesn’t expect to get a second shot at McGregor.
Everybody says things today that I don’t even understand why. Conor was good for one side, let’s say, because he brought more attention to the division and to myself. On another side, to talk about the fight, man, that’s in the past…Everybody still asks me if I want or if I don’t want [to fight him again]. That’s not up to me. That’s up to the UFC, and we know it will never happen. I don’t even know if he will come back to fight. The UFC tried to do a [second] fight and he didn’t want it, didn’t accept it, because what happened will never happen again.
Diaz: Why is Aldo ‘crying’ about McGregor?
Diaz calls out Aldo for ‘crying’ about McGregor.
Aldo’s crying about McGregor? I’m like bro, it’s your fault, you took him on that f-cking ride around the world and let him punk you everywhere. You’re responsible, what the f-ck are you crying for? I don’t even know if he’s crying anymore because he got over it, he probably realised that. I’m like bro, you just made a star out of that guy! I wish I had somebody I could just run all around the country and slap around, You know what I’m saying, now I’m the most famous guy in the world and all I had to do was slap around this little f-cker all around the whole place. I don’t mean to disrespect Aldo, but let’s talk the truth here, this is the real hour.
Kavanagh: McGregor wrote list of things he did wrong after winning Aldo fight
In an interview with The Irish Mirror, Coach Kavanagh says McGregor wrote him an essay on everything he did wrong after knocking out Aldo for the world featherweight title.
When I meet someone in sport or business I’m always interested to find out, how did they get over their biggest loss? I’ve had plenty of losses and failures but it’s about what you do with them. You don’t see a loss or a failure as a reason to quit you see it as an opportunity to learn. Conor and I have done that since day one. We’ve had plenty of losses in the cage but we use them to improve ourselves, come back and have plenty of wins too. Certainly at the beginning if Conor had a loss he would treat it as a reason to quit and I’d have to drag him down from his house. But that doesn’t happen anymore. You see him at his last loss, as soon as the fight was over he was analysing what he did wrong. He was humble in defeat. We got back in the gym, got ourselves a four- month plan and showed the world what we can do with a loss. If I have a fighter and after a win they go on a bender for four-and-a-half weeks, I forget about them. They’re wasting my time. I always use this story that when Conor beat Aldo to unify the 145 level, he argues it was an 11- second fight but it was 13 seconds on the record book, one punch and it was over. But he’s the most self-critical fighter I’ve ever met, and that night we went out for a bit and when we came home he wrote me an essay on everything he’d done wrong. It was only a 13 second fight.
Aldo: McGregor-Mayweather won’t happen
Aldo says McGregor will not fight Mayweather, because of UFC contract rules.
We have a contract with the UFC, every athlete does, and everything has to go through the UFC. It’s hard for Mayweather to accept a fight with [McGregor] being a UFC fighter. He does boxing events, so it’s 80 percent for him and 20 percent for the rest. It’s the opposite in the UFC. The UFC makes 80 and athletes make 20. That’s what happens. That’s the real story. So it’s not about Conor signing the contract or not, it’s Mayweather accepting to make less, or make his event.
He also says he will never fight McGregor again:
Never. Never. I think it was close once. Today, with this fight between the UFC and him, from both sides. The UFC has tried to do this fight, and he didn’t want it. He’s running. He won’t accept it. But we’ll see. I don’t know if this fight happens. I don’t think about McGregor today. I couldn’t care less what he’s doing. Like I said, I want to remain champion, I want big fights. If one day I fight him, great. If not, I’ll continue my life, continue being champion, continue being the same person, fighting and winning. I don’t think about Conor today. I only talk about Conor because you ask. F-ck him.
Aldo: McGregor-Mayweather fight cannot happen without UFC permission
Aldo says McGregor cannot fight Mayweather without the permission of the UFC.
It will never happen. This will only happen if the UFC wants to. It could be against Mayweather or anyone else, if a fighter has a contract with the UFC, nobody can go over the UFC.
He also says McGregor is not as well liked as he thinks.
McGregor’s reputation is already bruised. The only ones who like him are the Irish people, no-one else. If you ask in Brazil or in any other country, nobody cheers for him, no one considers him a champion, they always consider him a piece of shit.
Aldo: McGregor ‘doesn’t have a chance’ against Mayweather
Aldo says McGregor cannot beat Mayweather.
First of all, we don’t know if it will happen or not. there are a lot of things involved, mainly McGregor has a contract to follow so it’s hard to happen, but if it happens, I don’t think he has a chance. Mayweather has the experience of competing for years in the sport of boxing, so I don’t see how. Of course, it’s a fight, but it’s hard for us MMA fighters to go to a different world challenging one of the best in the history. I don’t see a result different than a win for Mayweather.
Aldo: ‘I hope Conor gets f-cked’
Aldo claims he doesn’t care about McGregor.
I hope Conor gets f-cked, that’s what matters to me. I don’t give a damn about him. I’ve already said he’s shit, so what he does or doesn’t do, I don’t care. I worry about myself. I’m training to defend my belt. I want to fly higher.
Aims to start boxing career
Aldo says he wants to start a boxing career.
I think about having a career in boxing, but I want to start from the bottom, start from zero. I want to get ranked and one day fight for a belt. I don’t want to fight just to fight, for money, to go after big fights and challenge a great champion. I respect every boxer, but I want to start from the bottom. I want a career in boxing. That was my biggest dream, to one day become champion in MMA and boxing. That is my biggest dream.
Garabrant outlines next opponents
Garabrant talks about his next opponents.
TJ Dillashaw is someone I really want to fight. He was never the champion. He held a fake title. He’ was walking around as a fake champion. So that’s what I’d like to get back for everyone on the team…There’s Jose Aldo. He’s a legend in the sport and a great match up stylistically. And there’s Conor. Conor’s still out there whenever he wants to come back. There’s a lot of fights for me. I want to defend my title…Whether it’s Aldo or Conor McGregor. Might even be Jeremy Stevens. I’ll slap the shit out of him…Here’s how I have it planned: TJ next cos’ Dominick doesn’t want to do the rematch. I offered it it to him right after the fight…but he respectfully declined, for reasons. TJ looks next, but after I dismantle TJ, Dominick might get back confidence and want to challenge me.
Garbrandt calls out Aldo, McGregor, wants ‘money fight’
Despite initially saying he wanted a rematch with Dominick Cruz, Garbrandt now says he wants to go up against Aldo.
I need to sit down with [UFC bosses] and find out the biggest money fight for me. I know I can go up and fight with Jose Aldo. You know, he has wins over my teammates, he’s a legend and I’d like to test his chin. I know I hit hard, I’m just getting started. And I also know the biggest fight’s with Conor [McGregor]. I can easily go up like my homie Nate Diaz, and choke him out and I can’t believe he’s the number 2 [pound for pound] when he got choked out…I’ll fight anybody, but to be honest, I truly believe I’m ready to fight…and I’m a draw. And I want the biggest money fight for me right now. I think I saw that Jose Aldo would like to fight me, I would like to test his chin. Whatever benefits me, I’m the champ.