LAS VEGAS — Chad Mendes and UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo may have spent 30 minutes of their lives trading haymakers together inside an eight-sided cage, but they can at least agree on one thing: their dislike of UFC 189 headliner Conor McGregor.
Mendes, who fights against McGregor for the interim UFC title on July 11, addressed a tweet to Aldo earlier this week disparaging McGregor and asking for the support of the injured champion’s Brazilian fanbase. The way McGregor sees it, the entire interaction was simply proof of what the Irishman has been preaching about his competitors from the time he began his ascent up the featherweight division.
“I think [Mendes] is crumbling already, to be honest,” McGregor said Wednesday. “I just, I see forced. I see a forced persona or something. He’s just different. And then the little back and forth tweets with Jose, and he’s talking in [Portuguese]. ‘Can I have your fan support, please,’ and all this bull. What is that? That’s women s–t. That’s not even, that’s disrespectful to women. I don’t know what that is. That’s coward s–t, is what that is.”
Mendes’ message, which he posted in Aldo’s native tongue on Tuesday, translates out to, “Jose Aldo, when we compete, we compete. You will always have my respect. @thenotoriousmma doesn’t respect nothing. Will I have the support of your fans at UFC 189?”
Mendes and Aldo have fought twice before, with Mendes losing the first bout via first-round knockout then the rematch via a memorable and hard fought decision. Those two losses are the only blemishes of Mendes’ entire career, but his message nonetheless prompted a response from Aldo, who wrote, “The respect is mutual and I’m looking forward to fight u again, because I know you’ll beat the Joker up! U can count on my fans!”
The spectacle of bringing two rivals together in such an outward fashion baffled McGregor, especially considering that both Mendes and Aldo are ultimately vying for the same prize.
“Everyone’s trying to be friends,” McGregor said. “I don’t have friends in this business. I don’t have friends in the game. I am not friends with my competitors. I am ruthless in here, and I’m looking to take every single one of them out. So they need to bunch up.
“I don’t give a s–t about respect. I’m here on my own journey. As long as my team respects me, as long as the people in my circle have respect for me and what I’m doing, that’s all I focus on.”
While an interim belt is the only thing up for grabs at UFC 189, McGregor pointed to Aldo’s public statements since withdrawing from the fight with injured ribs last week as proof that the gold at stake is very much deserved, reasoning that Aldo’s response indicates a lack of remorse for sinking what was intended to be one of the highest grossing UFC events of the last several years.
“It’s the rightful thing to do. He didn’t show up. Where’s the pride? Where’s the fighter in him?” McGregor said. “And then I see him sitting back, and him and Chad are tweeting back and forth, little buddies and this bulls–t.
“When a man is close to death, they try and buddy up together. They know it’s over for them, so let them be little pally-pals all of a sudden now. But he pulled out of a contest, with all of the talk, all of the build-up, and not one mention of the fans who flew over. Not one mention of nothing. So we are different people, me and him. And if he grows a set of balls, he’ll get it as well. His time will come.”