With a 13-second, one-punch knockout there’s not an awful lot left to wonder about.
But one element of Conor McGregor’s expeditious win over Jose Aldo on Saturday night that many were curious about is what was said in the brief exchange between ‘The Notorious’ and Aldo’s corner.
As referee John McCarthy waved the featherweight title unification bout off, McGregor scaled the octagon and made a gesture to the crowd before sticking his middle finger up to someone in the crowd.
Aldo’s Nova Uniao teammate and cornerman Hacran Dias can be seen shouting something at McGregor and has since revealed what was said in an interview with Brazilian outlet Combate.
“I told him to fight me,” Dias said. “And that I would fight him for free. That was not a good moment and now a lot of people are saying dumb stuff. I don’t know if he saw me or if he pretended he didn’t.
“He looked at me quickly and pointed my finger at his face, he could’ve played it off, but I told him to fight me. I guess we will see. This is a tough subject to discuss now, man I wish I was fighting him.”
Dias, who also fights in the UFC’s featherweight division, admitted that he was “shocked” by the outcome of the fight but has rubbished claims that the knockout came about because McGregor had gotten into Aldo’s head.
“I know how hard Aldo trained for this fight and he has a good head,” Dias added.
“He will come back stronger and recover from it all. He was alright, man. He was training as normal, just like us. It had nothing different, he always has a calm head and he was pretty confident he was going to knock [McGregor] out, only it turned out to be the opposite. But that’s it, he must keep his good attitude, go back home, train and do the best to get back.”
