It wasn’t until rather late in his career that Jose Aldo discovered that closed mouths don’t get fed.
A favourite of hardcore fight fans but seldom a pay-per-view draw before the arrival of Conor McGregor to the UFC’s ranks, Aldo never seemed to put two and two together by realising that his quietness may have been costing him earning potential.
The Brazilian was never the type of fighter who chimed up in press conferences or talked smack on his opponents’ abilities. It was not until before UFC 179 in Rio de Janeiro that Aldo shoved Chad Mendes and he admitted that he made the decision to do so after talking to head coach Andre Pederneiras about how best to promote his upcoming fight.
“It’s something to learn,” Pederneiras said of Aldo’s struggles in the fight-hyping department. “They were told their whole lives to respect their opponent, be polite. Japanese style.
“But America’s culture is different. They want to see a show and you have to adapt. It isn’t a quick thing. Brazilians don’t like to say some kinds of things, that’s why many of them don’t adapt.”
But ‘The Notorious’ changed the game and propelled himself to the biggest draw in mixed martial arts thanks to his skills on the microphone.
And, all of a sudden, Aldo has gotten rather chatty.
Time and time again since being unceremoniously dethroned in 13 seconds flat via an inch-perfect counter left from his Irish rival, Aldo has become a verbose drum-banger as he aims to get a rematch with McGregor.
The newly promoted “undisputed” UFC featherweight champion has hit out at McGregor’s head coach John Kavanagh, as well as his star pupil, in his most recent diatribe.
“I knew I would be the champion and he knows what happened to me in that fight will never happen again,” Aldo told Combate, as transcribed by Bloody Elbow. “It was known I would be champion again so I don’t have a problem with the way it happened. I’ve always said that having the belt around my waist is all that matters. No matter what, I’m the champion.
“I don’t care about what his coach says. Who is his coach anyway? I don’t know who he is. Or him. They’re all pieces of shit.”
Aldo benefited from a recent shake-up of the UFC’s 145lbs division which saw McGregor stripped of his title and Aldo reinstated as the official champion so that Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis could fight for its interim iteration in the main event of UFC 206 this weekend .
But even with that boost, the Brazilian is unhappy with how the UFC has been operating in recent years and it’s not just down to the leeway awarded to McGregor. He has hit out at the fact that certain fighters who are deserving of title shots are being passed over so that more fan-friendly bouts can be booked.
“The UFC has been a mess for a while now,” Aldo said. “Not only for [myself], it’s been happening way before that. It embarrassed featherweight and now embarrasses lightweight. Khabib Nurmagomedov signed two contracts to fight for the title and still hasn’t [fought for the title]. We also have Demian Maia waiting at welterweight and Ronaldo Jacare is waiting for even longer than that [at middleweight].
“It’s cool for me, I was a dominant champion for a long time, but what about Jacare’s situation? He’s always winning and doesn’t get his title shot. They tell him he’ll fight for the title and he never does. And it seems he never will. It’s a general mess.”
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