Jose Aldo believes Conor McGregor will return: “I never doubt the champions”
While they had a very heated rivalry during their one and only fight, former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo has come out and shown support to Conor McGregor. Aldo and McGregor had a very bitter public feud during the leadup to their UFC 196 featherweight title fight, which would see McGregor become champion with a 13-second knockout of Aldo, but now that McGregor has suffered a serious injury, Aldo is showing support and class to his former foe.
Speaking to the media this week ahead of his UFC 265 scheduled matchup against Pedro Munhoz, Aldo was asked about McGregor’s gruesome broken tibia injury at UFC 264, and if he believes the Irish superstar will return, and the responses were quite surprising given their long-lived rivalry.
“First of all, I’m upset with the injury. It’s quite hard, we work with our body, we try to keep it healthy because that way we can always be working.”
During his conversation with Ag. Fight, Jose Aldo said he believes McGregor will return because of the championship resume and mentality that the former two-weight world champion has.
“I think he can get back to fighting at a high level. I never doubt the champions, the mind and willpower of the champions. He has dominating before and was the lightweight and featherweight champion. It’s all up to him. If he wants to come back at a high level, he can do it” (h/t The Mac Life)
Despite dropping two straight to Dustin Poirier, Aldo actually believes things were going well for Conor McGregor until the injury occurred with the first round coming to an end.
“The fight was going well especially because Conor forgot his promotional side and tried to be the fighter and win until that leg situation happened. But man, I think it’s up to him to return. If he wants to come back again, he will work hard, abdicate from certain things to get there, dedicate himself and go back to the winning path.”
While things have not gone his way over the past couple of years, Conor McGregor has said he plans to return and face Poirier for a fourth time, and UFC President Dana White said McGregor should be expected to return in about a year. Given how public, wild, and fiery their rivalry was, it’s nice to see Jose Aldo put the past to the side and pay respect to one of the sport’s biggest stars.
