Dana White said Conor McGregor slapped Jose Aldo’s back. Aldo said McGregor grabbed his hood. And McGregor? Well, he had a different interpretation of what he did altogether.
“I heard I slapped him in the back of the head,” McGregor said during the UFC 189 World Tour press conference Monday in London (h/t MMA Mad). “I didn’t slap him in the back of the head. I put my hand on his neck and I bent him over.”
The seventh episode of the UFC 189 Embedded series shows the Toronto morning show, Canada AM, where McGregor was mistakenly sat behind Aldo on Friday morning. McGregor seemed to grab the back of Aldo’s neck and say something to him. White, the UFC president, had to separate the two men, which he has been doing often over the last week.
“This thing started to erupt right before we want back on the air,” White said. “[Aldo] doesn’t want to be touched. [McGregor] keeps trying to touch him. That’s been the fun I’ve been having.”
Aldo did not seemed too pleased with McGregor’s actions. His coach Andre Pederneiras warned White to not let McGregor touch Aldo during the tour. But Aldo seemed to laugh off the incident in London.
“I don’t know,” Aldo said through an interpreter. “He just grabbed the hoodie of my jacket. It wasn’t a slap. I don’t know if he likes me or not.”
Aldo will defend his featherweight title against McGregor at UFC 189 on July 11 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas. White has predicted it will be the UFC’s biggest event of the year — with a gate of $7 million and pay-per-view buys exceeding 1 million.
“In all my time that I’ve been here, I’ve never been a part of something like this tour,” White said. “It was the right thing to do. It was well worth it and it was a unique experience.”