Aldo admits he didn't watch UFC 189
If you can believe it (and maybe you don't) Jose Aldo didn't watch UFC 189.
The long-time featherweight kingpin pulled out of his much-anticipated bout with Conor McGregor after suffering a rib injury during training, and the brash Irishman went on to capture the interim title with a stirring, come-from-behind victory over No. 1 contender Chad Mendes.
According to Aldo, he didn't even bother tuning in to the epic event, and instead got all his information about the fight from his coach, Andre Pederneiras.
"It's funny. When my friends aren't fighting, I don't even watch it," Aldo said during a press conference at Nova Uniao, according to MMAFighting.com's Guilherme Cruz. "'Dede' (Pederneiras) talked to me about it, said it's cool, that it was a good fight for us. He saw his game, that Chad was winning while he had gas, and that they shouldn't have stopped the fight. But when I'm not fighting, I don’t read or watch anything."
Although Aldo admits to having a decent relationship with Mendes after their five-round war at UFC 179, he realizes a bout against McGregor would bode well for his wallet.
"Chad is a really tough fighter, but it wouldn’t be that good financially (to fight him a third time)," Aldo said. "We considered fighting (McGregor) injured, I like those big events, and I was training well. We asked for a deadline to try to recover and fight injured, but I wasn't recovering as expected. I still feel the pain. I would have fought if I could, but I couldn't.
"I was upset with this injury. This was one of the biggest fights in the history, and we had all the promotion, everything that was needed. I've never been through something like this, especially for a fight that everybody wanted to see. This fight would bring a lot of money."
As for where and when he'll eventually trade heavy leather with McGregor, Aldo ultimately wouldn't even mind sauntering into the lion's den and facing his nemesis in Ireland.
"It would be great, I don't see any problem with that," Aldo said. 'They can say whatever they want. If they don't say it in Portuguese, I won't understand a word so I don’t care. I’m anxious to fight already."