While Conor McGregor is solely focused on Nate Diaz, it seems that Jose Aldo is only thinking about ‘The Notorious’.
The most likely outcome after UFC 202’s main event rematch between McGregor and Diaz will be one in which the Irishman returns to featherweight to take on new interim champion Aldo.
Aldo believes he has started the mind games already for his second shot at McGregor.
The Brazilian was knocked out in 13 seconds by his arch-rival at UFC 194 in December and he’s gunning for vengeance.
He was quick to find McGregor in the crowd at UFC 200 when Aldo took a decision over Frankie Edgar for the interim title and his mental warfare continued this week when he tried to take a dig at Conor McGregor’s insinuation that he had spies in Aldo’s camp leading up to their first fight.
“I have my spies in that camp so I see everything that goes on in that camp,” McGregor said in December.
Having moles in opponents’ gyms is very possible but it’s not often publicly admitted which is why it was curious when Aldo seemed to take a page out of McGregor’s book by insisting he had inside information on Edgar’s gameplan leading up to UFC 200.
Earlier this week, Aldo claimed he knew to tone down his kicking output as Edgar planned to counter kicks with takedown attempts.
Espionage in the UFC? https://t.co/WiJWBJkOkV
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) July 22, 2016
But the Nova Uniao featherweight has now rowed back on those claims by maintaining that the statement was made as a dig towards McGregor.
“Guys now I’ve become invincible,” Aldo wrote on Instagram. “Nobody can beat me and my spies.
“Sometimes we aren’t taken seriously, and other times we joke around and get taken too seriously, so… let’s clarify I’ve always fought fair. I got to the top through a lot of hard work – both mine and my team’s.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BII5I7mBrWq/
“I am a principled person and fighter. My team is renowned for its development of tough, technical fighters but also for our collective character, and that’s what we’ll continue to be known for. I’d never do anything that goes against our principles. I fight clean, I fight fair, and I fight tough.
“When I talked about having spies in Edgar’s camp, it was a reference to a comment McGregor made before our fight. It was just a jab. Everyone knows you can’t change up your entire strategy on fight week- of course Frankie’s strategy was going to be everything that worked for him in our first fight- it was a no-brainer that he would try the same things. As to spies in camp, relax people…my spies are just in your heads. I’m ready for anyone, no spies required.”
