Jose Aldo discussed his former rival’s boxing match against Floyd Mayweather.
Conor McGregor performed better than many expected, but at the same time, Floyd Mayweather still won their boxing match somewhat comfortably. According to his former rival Jose Aldo, he doesn’t see a moral victory for McGregor.
“Of course not. It’s not a moral (victory),” Aldo said on the opening of his new burger joint in Brazil. "First of all, you’re trying to prove (what) against a 41-year-old fighter who hasn’t fought in years… Of course, it’s a fight for a lot of money, but a moral victory would be against an active boxer, a champion. Then he wouldn’t even last a round. It’s a completely different sport.
“We need to put ourselves in our places. I’m an MMA athlete. I can’t go tomorrow and say I’m going to do muay Thai in Thailand with a Thai fighter, because I can punch and kick well. There’s no way. Each one in their places. I respect martial arts, so I put myself in my place. I don’t see a moral victory.”
Aldo says that even a retired Mayweather who took McGregor lightly, was able to win easily.
"Mayweather just waited for the time to attack," he added. "He hasn’t fought in two years. Many people talk shit, not the media, but many people keep saying ‘oh, he landed more punches than Pacquiao, Cotto and everyone else,' but they don’t take into consideration that (Mayweather) hasn’t fought in two years. He didn’t even train properly for the fight. He knew it would work. Brother, one chance in a million for Conor to defeat Mayweather."
Everything said, Aldo thinks it was nice that the massive fight put the spotlight to MMA, as it could eventually lead to better paydays for other Mixed Martial Artists.
"I think this fight was good because of that, it put MMA in the spotlight,” he said. "I’m happy for that. I think that’s something good for fighters. We deserve to make more (money). Not taking anything away from other sports, but our sport is unique. We don’t train only one martial art per day, we train three or four, plus conditioning training. We deserve to make a lot more than we make.
"Nothing against it, I’m happy because the guy did a big fight and promoted MMA, I’m happy because of that, but not about the fight. Nobody liked the fight. It was a joke. I don’t know how people saw it here in Brazil, but in America the comments that I heard were those. It was a circus fight."
Aldo also admitted that he didn’t watch the fight when it aired as he was at a football game at the time. The former long time featherweight champion also wants to complete his UFC contract and move to boxing, but unlike McGregor foray, he says he plans on doing it the right way.
Transcripts and translations by MMA Fighting and MMA Junkie.
