IRISH UFC STAR Conor McGregor has implored Jose Aldo to “step up and fight like a man”.
The two fighters had been due to compete against each other at UFC 189 on 11 July in Las Vegas, however a recent rib injury suffered by Aldo has cast doubt on whether the encounter will go ahead.
Nevertheless, speaking to Jon Anik on the UFC Fight Night: Machida vs. Romero, McGregor suggested Aldo should compete even if his injury has not fully healed by the time of the fight.
“Just toughen up and show up,” he said. “Many people have stepped inside the Octagon with little, itty bitty bruises. We all have knocks and bruises. Dust it off and step up. Step up and fight like a man. Fight like the champion you should be.”
The 26-year-old fighter insists he won’t target Aldo’s ribs, and added:
“There’s a lot on the line… A lot of money, a lot of pride. There should be no reason to pull out of this contest. But if he does, that’s on him and I cannot force another individual to step in there. If I ask myself truly, would I like to step in there and face me, I’d probably go running, too. If it’s little mini Mendes, we’ll smoke him, too.”
Earlier this week, in an exclusive column for The42, McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh wrote that the Irishman’s camp would not be certain of the identity of their opponent until the day before the fight.
h/t MMA Fighting
Its thanks to Billy that our amateur boxing team setup and training regime is the envy of all. No wonder the US want to poach him. Without Billy we would not have had that medal haul in London 2012, and without Billy we wont be able to match it in Rio. Its not the IABA that success lies with, its Billy and his team. They’d be fools to not give him everything he wants and anything he needs to keep that success going.
The fact that our boxers stay amateur thanks to healthy funding of 40k and coaches etc all paid for helps. While boxers in other countries are forced into professional ranks in order to go into a full time set up. Here Boxers are afraid to leave the handy number in the amateur ranks, It is ridiculous that the public fawning all over a few bronze medals(third/fourth place) in a second tier competition while Andy Lee winning a proper world title goes nearly unnoticed.
Give him what he wants!! The boxers are consistently winning medals! No brainer here
what Danny said
Resolved soon.. What a joke they should ask Billy to name his price..
Excellent trainer, really good guy too.
Deserves as much as what Martin o neill/ keano etc getting. And I’ll bet what he’s asking is reasonable, his back room team as well. Smarten up IBBA.
If the Web summit is anything to go by Billy will be leaving soon.
It’s just madness that we cannot just secure this man! We have the best track record in amateur boxing in the world per capita, yet the boxing always struggles with funding! But we pump money into the athletics, for what?? So we can get to a few semi finals! Doesn’t make sense at all!
wat time is joe ward for ghtin