Having recently retired from the sport, Jose Aldo spoke fondly of former opponent Conor McGregor. Despite McGregor's insulting trash talk leading up to their 2015 clash, Aldo claims that the Irishman is a good person with a vision.
The featherweight legend also revealed that 'Notorious' absolutely loves his liquor and would call up their private jet "talking sh*t," during the tour for their fight. Aldo said in an appearance on the Portuguese podcast Connect Cast:
"It was funny, because the guy drinks a lot. He drinks a lot. F*** yeah! He probably even like to drink gasoline. Bro, he'd call our private jet completely drunk, just taking shit. F*** it was funny, he's a good person because he does understand the other side. He understands the other person. But he's a guy with a vision."
McGregor dethroned 'Junior' with an iconic thirteen-second knockout at UFC 194, in front of the latter's home crowd. Giving due credit to 'Notorious', Aldo further said:
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"It was his merit. I was going in, like it or not he has more reach than me, he had thrown a 1-2 already that I dodged and answered very quickly and he got spooked. And I said, 'Now it's time to go in, Mike Tyson style brother'. When I went in, straight away, everything was spinning."
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However, Aldo accepted that he was very demotivated after failing to secure a rematch against Conor McGregor.
Conor McGregor has also shown his respect for Jose Aldo over time
Conor McGregor was at the top of his trash-talking game when he declared 'I own Rio de Janeiro' ahead of his clash against Jose Aldo. Following that first presser, 'Notorious' waged mental-warfare on the Brazilian, which many believe was a key factor in McGregor's victory.
However, the two have seemingly developed a sense of mutual respect over time as their careers took on different trajectories. 'Notorious' came to Aldo's defense when Khabib Nurmagomedov claimed that the Brazilian was way past his prime, judging by his title loss to Petr Yan in 2020.
However, Aldo bounced back with a three-fight win streak at bantamweight which did not go unnoticed by McGregor. 'Notorious' wrote after 'Junior's' win over Pedro Munhoz last year.
"Jose Aldo is a real legend."
In his most recent outing, Aldo suffered a unanimous decision loss against Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 278. The former Strikeforce and UFC featherweight champion recently retired from the sport with a stellar 31-8 record.