JOSE ALDO DOESN’T believe he can beat Conor McGregor and could have fought instead of pulling out of their scheduled bout back in July.
That’s according to former UFC star Chael Sonnen, who says that Aldo is currently the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world and believes the Brazilian is more than capable of beating McGregor.
Aldo, the UFC’s reigning featherweight champion, takes on interim 145lbs title-holder McGregor at UFC 194 in Las Vegas on Saturday, 12 December.
However, Sonnen believes that McGregor’s psychological warfare during the drawn-out build-up to the fight has had a negative impact on Aldo’s mindset, and he’s unsure if the fight will definitely go ahead at the second time of asking.
Advertisement
The former middleweight and light-heavyweight title challenger also says that the UFC have stacked the rest of the UFC 194 card — which will be the UFC’s third event in Vegas in as many days — in case the Aldo-McGregor fight does fall through.
“I think that having faith in this McGregor-Aldo alleged fight coming up, I think that’s tough. You’re putting a lot of faith into it. If Aldo wanted to do it, he could have done it a month ago. So I think that’s a tough one,” Sonnen told Submission Radio.
“I’m obviously not the only one that thinks that. That’s why that weekend and that card is so star-loaded. They’re ready for that one to fall out. But I sure hope it happens, I want to see the fight.
“I think Aldo is a lot better than Aldo thinks he is. I think that Aldo’s got the skills to win it. It’s kind of hard to believe that he’s going to win a fight that he doesn’t think he’s going to win. But when I look at those two, I think he’s the better fighter. But apparently he doesn’t agree with me.”
Chael Sonnen AP / Press Association Images
AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images
When asked why Aldo apparently doesn’t believe in himself, Sonnen said: “I haven’t the foggiest idea. There’s a lot of great athletes who go through that but a guy like Jose Aldo, who hasn’t lost in 11 years, he’s fought the best of the best… I don’t know what got him so rattled. He clearly is. He just walked out of a press conference a couple of weeks ago, he was so frustrated.
“For me, Aldo might be the best fighter out there, pound-for-pound, in the absence of Georges St Pierre and in the absence of Jon Jones. I don’t know if there’s even an argument for it. I think it defaults to Aldo. When those guys are present, he still might be the best.
“I really don’t know. Mentally, he did not like that. He did not like being picked on and getting a finger put in his chest. I don’t know why any of that would bother him. I did that stuff to Anderson [Silva]. It rattled him too and threw him off.”
Chael Sonnen: Aldo is 'rattled' and doesn't believe he can beat McGregor
JOSE ALDO DOESN’T believe he can beat Conor McGregor and could have fought instead of pulling out of their scheduled bout back in July.
That’s according to former UFC star Chael Sonnen, who says that Aldo is currently the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world and believes the Brazilian is more than capable of beating McGregor.
Aldo, the UFC’s reigning featherweight champion, takes on interim 145lbs title-holder McGregor at UFC 194 in Las Vegas on Saturday, 12 December.
However, Sonnen believes that McGregor’s psychological warfare during the drawn-out build-up to the fight has had a negative impact on Aldo’s mindset, and he’s unsure if the fight will definitely go ahead at the second time of asking.
The former middleweight and light-heavyweight title challenger also says that the UFC have stacked the rest of the UFC 194 card — which will be the UFC’s third event in Vegas in as many days — in case the Aldo-McGregor fight does fall through.
“I think that having faith in this McGregor-Aldo alleged fight coming up, I think that’s tough. You’re putting a lot of faith into it. If Aldo wanted to do it, he could have done it a month ago. So I think that’s a tough one,” Sonnen told Submission Radio.
“I’m obviously not the only one that thinks that. That’s why that weekend and that card is so star-loaded. They’re ready for that one to fall out. But I sure hope it happens, I want to see the fight.
“I think Aldo is a lot better than Aldo thinks he is. I think that Aldo’s got the skills to win it. It’s kind of hard to believe that he’s going to win a fight that he doesn’t think he’s going to win. But when I look at those two, I think he’s the better fighter. But apparently he doesn’t agree with me.”
When asked why Aldo apparently doesn’t believe in himself, Sonnen said: “I haven’t the foggiest idea. There’s a lot of great athletes who go through that but a guy like Jose Aldo, who hasn’t lost in 11 years, he’s fought the best of the best… I don’t know what got him so rattled. He clearly is. He just walked out of a press conference a couple of weeks ago, he was so frustrated.
“For me, Aldo might be the best fighter out there, pound-for-pound, in the absence of Georges St Pierre and in the absence of Jon Jones. I don’t know if there’s even an argument for it. I think it defaults to Aldo. When those guys are present, he still might be the best.
“I really don’t know. Mentally, he did not like that. He did not like being picked on and getting a finger put in his chest. I don’t know why any of that would bother him. I did that stuff to Anderson [Silva]. It rattled him too and threw him off.”
H/T: Submission Radio
7 reasons to check out Saturday’s big MMA event at Dublin’s 3Arena
UFC star Nick Diaz hit with five-year suspension for marijuana use
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Chael Sonnen Conor McGregor Jose Aldo Las Vegas MMA UFC UFC 194