Pettis: 'I think Conor (McGregor) got in his (Aldo's) head'

The verbal warfare Conor McGregor waged against Jose Aldo in the months leading up to their brief clash at UFC 194 proved to be incredibly effective. At least, that's the yarn Anthony Pettis is spinning.

"I think Conor got in his head," Pettis told The MMA Hour's Ariel Helwani, according to MMAFighting.com's Luke Thomas. "Aldo's not known for coming out there trying to throw bombs the way he did. Conor got in his head. He wanted to put his hands on him and he got to hit him, but one guy went down and one guy didn't."

Aldo eschewed the measured, leg kick-heavy offense he generally unleashes on his opponents in favor of a riskier strategy that involved foolishly rushing to the center of the cage to sling leather.

And that's where everything went wrong.

Once he reached the center of the Octagon, Aldo's chin had a violent meeting with McGregor's left hand, and the greatest featherweight fighter in MMA history saw his title reign crumble after a mere 13 seconds.

"Yeah, man. You gotta be," Pettis said when asked if he was surprised by the outcome. "Finishing Aldo in 13 seconds, it's an amazing thing. So, respect to Conor for backing up his words. It was crazy to see Aldo get dethroned that way. I thought it was going to be a war. I thought it was going to be more of a fight, but Conor caught him."