Jose Aldo: Conor McGregor Doesn’t Deserve To Be Where He Is
With the news that UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor is officially moving up to lightweight to take on 155-pound champion Rafael dos Anjos in the main event of March’s blockbuster UFC 197 event from Las Vegas, it’s hardly a secret that the polarizing ‘Notorious’ has become the most discussed name in combat ports by a wide margin.
Taking over that role from former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey due to her devastating UFC 193 knockout loss to Holly Holm, McGregor has proclaimed that he ‘is the fight game,’ and based off of how the UFC has been willing to let him do essentially whatever he wants, it’s hard to argue with him there.
However, it allegedly wasn’t supposed to play out like that after UFC 194, as former featherweight champ Jose Aldo recently told Portal de Vale Tudo (via MMA Fighting) that there was an apparent agreement in place for the winner of their fight to move up to lightweight while the other fighter stayed put at featherweight to take on consensus No. 1 Frankie Edgar, a deal that McGregor supposedly reneged on. What’s more, Aldo was supposedly going to move up to lightweight as he’s long been rumored to do if he won:
“Right after the fight, Dana went to the locker room and told us our next fight would be against Frankie Edgar for the belt, because Conor would move up for the lightweight division since he couldn’t cut weight anymore.
“When we signed the contract, the intention was that the winner would fight at lightweight, but we would need to abandon the featherweight belt,” he said. “That was the plan, that’s what they told us. If we fought at lightweight, win or lose, and then had the opportunity to fight at featherweight again, it would be for the title immediately.”
It appears that the UFC’s plans were thrown a bit of a curveball by the massive drawing power of McGregor, who shocked the world by flooring Aldo in 13 seconds and ending his 10-year unbeaten reign. Aldo is clearly not headed for a rematch with McGregor just yet, but that’s understandably what he’s aiming for. The Brazilian veteran still thinks McGregor was lucky to knock him out and there wasn’t a fight. Aldo said that when they do finally throw down once again, he’s going to win. Find out what Aldo said about his jaw-dropping loss on the following page…
“I want a rematch with (McGregor), of course, especially because there was no fight. None of us fought, it was just a punch that he was able to connect and won the fight. Okay, congratulations, but it wasn’t what everyone expected. But I don’t live focused on that, I’m focused on the future.
“If it’s a rematch or a title fight, it doesn’t matter, but, of course, one day we will fight again, and I know I will beat him, I know I can do it. My next step, like I said, I can’t see other fight, and I won’t accept another fight if it’s not for the belt.”
Finally Aldo, who’s usually one to let his frustrations with the UFC or his opponent be publicly known, simply said that the UFC is granting McGregor too much power because no other fighter has been able to call the shots like he is now. Calling the champ lucky to be atop the fight world, and overall he doesn’t deserve to enjoy those perks:
“I think they gave him too much power, let him grow a lot, and he’s playing now, calling the shots more than the others,” Aldo said. “I think that’s wrong, no one ever did that. It doesn’t matter if it’s about money or not at this point, what matters is show who calls the shots, who’s the boss, and not just a piece of s–t talking about things you see. He doesn’t deserve to be where he is. I’ve always respected all the merits, but he had more luck than merits.”
