Dana White Reveals Jose Aldo Went Crazy After McGregor Slapped Him On Back
The UFC 189 World Championship Tour continued its all-out media blitz for July 11’s pivotal Jose Aldo vs. Conor McGregor main event in Toronto yesterday (Fri., March 27, 2015), and it appears that things may have finally gotten physical between the two elite featherweights.
Well, at least a little bit.
Speaking in an interview with The Fight Network’s John Ramdeen and Robin Black, UFC President Dana White spoke up about a radio appearance featuring Aldo, McGregor, welterweight champion Robbie Lawler, and his challenger Rory MacDonald that probably could have been planned out more intelligently:
According to White, the show’s producer wanted to put McGregor behind Aldo, and it resulted in “Notorious” angering the champ badly by slapping him on the back:
“He’s trying to put Conor McGregor in a seat behind [Aldo] and Conor McGregor reached over and slapped Aldo’s back,” White said. “And now Aldo is crazy and doesn’t want to do most the stuff we have to do today. It’s been fun.”
The 10-day, 10-city tour has been by far the biggest and all-encompassing promotional event the UFC has ever put on, and it’s certainly garnering a ton of attention for what should be the biggest fight of 2015.
It’s also clear that Aldo doesn’t like McGregor, who continues to spew endless creative insults his way at every opportunity (and there are a lot of them). White touched on the fact that McGregor is getting under Aldo’s skin, and the last thing he wants is to see another out-of-cage brawl cancel a fight they’ve spent millions on promoting:
“”Jose Aldo does not like Conor McGregor, and Conor McGregor is good at pushing his buttons. We’ve spent a lot of money already promoting this fight,” White said. “It would obviously bum us out if it didn’t happen at that time. I would love to do this fight on July 11. Let’s hope this stays together.”
White says that the UFC doesn’t want a physical confrontation to erupt, but after the way they’ve force-fed Aldo vs. McGregor to the fans this week, that’s probably the only thing that could happen to make this fight’s hype bigger than it already is.
And hey, look what it did for Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier earlier this year.
In any case, Aldo is getting sick of McGregor’s antics, and truth be told, it may be too much of a good thing for the fans, as well. Are you still intrigued by the non-stop staredowns and trash talk, or are you tired of seeing the same thing day in and day out?
