Jose Aldo Reflects On 13-Second Defeat To Conor McGregor, Questioned His Chin
Jose Aldo reflected on his defeat to Conor McGregor over four years on from UFC 194.
Aldo was defending his featherweight title against McGregor in December 2015 after what was a heated buildup between the pair to say the least. But despite being the favorite heading into the fight, the Brazilian would come undone in just 13 seconds after getting caught by McGregor.
It was Aldo’s first defeat in 10 years at the time and was a particularly devastating one for him to take given the trash talk he had to endure from the Irishman for the best part of a year leading up to it.
Looking back at it now in a recent chat with Cris Cyborg, Aldo spoke of his confidence at the time and how he didn’t see a single way for McGregor to beat him.
“We never expect to lose — and lose like that,” Aldo said (via MMA Fighting). “It’s a sport and it’s 50-50, of course, it could happen one day. As long as we’re fighting, losing is a possibility, but I was so confident in my head going into this fight. ‘No, I’m super well-prepared, I can’t see how this guy wins.’
“For everything that was said and everything that was going on, my team and I were positive that we would get there and defeat him. And that’s not what happened.”
Aldo went on to add that he started having doubts about himself after the setback and even reached out to Cyborg at the time to ask her how to get his chin strong following the knockout defeat.
He would never get his rematch with McGregor either.
After bouncing back with a unanimous decision win over Frankie Edgar to win the interim title, he was promoted to undisputed champion after McGregor was stripped of the title for inactivity.
“Right after that I said, ‘no, I’m the champion, that was only one fact that will never happen again in my life. That’s why I have to train twice as hard, see the mistakes I made and never make them again,’” Aldo added.
Aldo would eventually lose his title to Max Holloway and fall short in the rematch with the Hawaiian as well. In total, he has gone 3-4 since losing to McGregor.
However, he was on course to potentially becoming a two-weight champion in the UFC until his bantamweight title fight with Henry Cejudo was recently called off.
What do you make of Aldo’s comments looking back on his defeat to McGregor?
