Jose Aldo recently lashed out verbally at his old rival Conor McGregor after drawing with Jeremy Stephens in a boxing match, but it seems that he’s since had a change of heart.
McGregor had commented after the fight earlier this month that, “me and Aldo should box,” and when a reporter told Aldo about it at the post-fight presser he reacted badly, stating that, “Conor is an a******. He only talks now because he has a fight booked, and does so to sell anything, not to actually fight. He’s a son of a b****.”
At the time McGregor seemed surprised by Aldo’s angry response, writing, “Well, ok then. Whatever lad, I was only trying to be nice. Who pissed in your açaí?”
When the dust settled Aldo says he realized that he’d misunderstood McGregor’s intentions with his initial post and so he actually reached out to apologize to the fighter he once had an infamously intense rivalry with.
“I was a little heated,” Aldo acknowledged on the Trocação Franca podcast. “I had just re-watched the match in the locker room and I had won, everybody said it, and right after that a reporter asked me [about McGregor’s comments], and I hadn’t seen what Conor had said. I called him names, laughed a lot, because of that. But when I got to Brazil, I messaged him apologizing because I saw it wasn’t his intention to challenge me, he was trying to give me a push. I misunderstood [his intentions]. But we’re cool again. Conor is my friend. I wish him all the best.”
And Aldo even went on to suggest that he’d be willing to train with McGregor in Ireland.
“Yes. Why not?” Aldo said. “I have to learn a lot in boxing. There are some great Irish boxers, so if I have the opportunity to go to Ireland and train with Conor and the Irish, I’m super open to it. Especially pro boxing. It’s a new world, and I have to learn from the best. Conor has good boxing, he fought Mayweather in boxing, so he has a lot to teach me.”
Aldo had big plans when he first made good on his long-time ambition to transition from MMA to boxing and had even been talking up the possibility of a boxing match against Floyd Mayweather Jr, but after the disappointment of drawing with Stephens at Gamebred Boxing 4 he’s admitted that he’s now turning his attention to other match-ups first.
“Ali [Abdelaziz] had already negotiated with [Mayweather’s] staff and it was agreed with the Saudi Arabia people, the sheik. But I think they’re liking what I’m showing in boxing and it’s creating a euphoria to aim at bigger things as well. We’re not past the idea of boxing Mayweather, it might happen, but we have other plans first.
“I wanted to build a career in boxing like everybody does, to start against easier opponents and earn experience until you get there, but given the name I have, it’s hard to take the same path everybody else does. We’re trying to choose the right fight. Jeremy was way heavier than me now. I was at 157 pounds when I went to the arena on fight night and he was over 177. There was a huge difference.
“As soon as the fight ended, Ali said we won, but we had to fight on the right weight class. I’ll fight at 140. But since new opportunities have come around in boxing, maybe this Mayweather match will have to wait a little bit.”
