Aldo: I’m in Conor McGregor’s head
Jose Aldo: “My mind is my strongest weapon. It’s hard to get into my mind. I don’t worry about it. Face-offs mean nothing. I’m in his head and he knows what’s coming.”
When Conor McGregor jumped out of the Octagon in January, UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo was amused.
“I thought it was funny,” said Aldo at a recent media event in Las Vegas, as transcribed by Guilherme Cruz for MMAFighting.com. “He was screaming but didn’t do anything. He was holding the security. It was funny.”
‘Notorious’ has trash talked about “taking over the Favela” in Brazil, but again, Aldo remains calm.
“I lived in a favela,” said Aldo. “I wasn’t upset when he said that. He talks a lot. If I care about everything he says, I will be f—ed. I just relax, try to stay cool. It’s normal. I’m here to promote the fight. When I’m inside the cage, nobody will take anything away from me. I focus on the fight, not on what people say. Pressure is nothing. It’s part of the job. I fight in there. There is where I have to prove everything. In there, I will be concentrated to do my job.”
“Cub Swanson was the first to talk a lot on fight week in the WEC, and I got there and ran through him. It’s going to be the same thing with this one.
“I was never upset (with McGregor). I just laughed at it. It’s tough to get me pissed off. My mind is my strongest weapon. It’s hard to get into my mind. I don’t worry about it. Face-offs mean nothing. I’m in his head and he knows what’s coming.
“He asked me to look into his eyes and I did. I saw how he is. I’ve studied him, I know all his movements. I already know what to do in there.”
“Every fight is my biggest challenge. I don’t look at the opponent, I look at the fight. I train a lot, but Urijah (Faber) was the one that I was most worried about. I trained hard because he’s tough.
“I was fighting in Urijah’s house, in front of his fans, and he’s tough, so I was worried. I’m more experienced now, I’ve been through tough situations and I’m fine. Everything depends on me and my team.”
“I usually don’t say how I’m going to win, but I can guarantee you I’m going to win. About finishing fights, when you’re the champion everybody studies you, has their eyes on you. That’s the fight of your opponent’s life as well. I always want to throw one punch and end the fight and go back home, but that doesn’t happen all the time. If I can finish the fight, I will, but I will be ready to fight five rounds.”
Aldo has generally avoided trash talk and pre fight antics, but after discussion with his coach, the great Andre Pederneiras, the champ shoved challenger Chad Mendes during a media event last year.
“I didn’t like to promote fights like that at first, but that’s something we have to do,” said Aldo. “We don’t win the fight only in there. We have to do things here to make it bigger as well.”
Jose Aldo has not lost in a decade. Cub Swanson who he said talked the maddest trash fell in 8 seconds. Urijah Faber, the fighter who worried him the most didn’t win a single round on even a single judge’s scorecard. Chad Mendes who Aldo deigned to shove, fell in the fight of the year.
On July 11 at UFC 189 Jose Aldo fights Conor McGregor. If McGregor wins, he will be the Muhammad Ali of mixed martial arts. If Aldo wins, the Brazilian might move up the Pound for Pound list, where he is already #2.