Jose Aldo: I have a 'friendly relationship' with Conor McGregor

According to Jose Aldo, his relationship with former foe Conor McGregor is not quite what fans would expect

To say the hype surrounding Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor before their title fight at UFC 194 was palpable would be an understatement.

With McGregor often the agitator, two featherweights were constantly seen bickering with one another during their much publicized world media tour.

So when the two finally squared off on that December night, it felt like the culmination of what seemed like the biggest feud in recent UFC history. McGregor would go on to finish Aldo in just 13-seconds with a vicious left hook to the jaw, earning his first UFC championship in the process

While many would assume Aldo would hold some animosity to his Irish foe, the Brazilian is now revealing their relationship is quite the opposite.

“It’s a friendly relationship. I don’t have a problem with him trying to promote himself,” said Aldo during an interview on the Brazilian tV show Revista Combate. “If we take a look at it money-wise, it was pretty good. I think there should be more fighters like him at featherweight. I’m not his friend, though. He can go his way and I can go mine.”

Aldo would later rebound with a unanimous decision win over Frankie Edgar at UFC 200, earning the promotion’s interim featherweight title and guaranteeing his rematch with McGregor.

And while Aldo, who has been hinting at the possibility of meeting the champion for second time at UFC 205, has never been one for trash talk, he recognizes McGregor only puts on such an act to draw attention to his fights.

“I’ve seen him staring at a wall, looking at nothing with everyone around him trying to taunt him and he would just stand there, gazing,” revealed Aldo. “He’s a regular, mellow guy, but if he sees a camera or some Irish people, he transforms in a such way that makes you say to yourself ‘son of a bitch'”.

“One day we were hanging out and he said he was going to get the coffee and I said I wanted mine with sugar and he said something like ‘nice.’ Most of the times we met, there was always someone recording us, though, so he had to keep his persona up. With no cameras, he changes completely.”