The vast majority of us were stunned into silence when Conor McGregor snatched Jose Aldo’s UFC featherweight title belt and raised it aloft at their recent Dublin press conference. But divisional rival Chad Mendes insisted the Brazilian champion should have punched the boisterous Irishman for his stunt.
Aldo’s retaliation was muted when McGregor swiped his belt, but Mendes—who could be in line to face the winner of this hotly anticipated contest—thinks he should have been more forceful in his reaction to the Irishman, who he has branded a “moron,” per Mike Bohn of MMAjunkie:
You don’t touch somebody else’s belt—that’s their belt.
If I was Aldo, I would have punched him right in the f—–g face. I don’t know. Aldo played it off. Honestly, I feel bad for Aldo having to do all that stuff with that moron. The guy’s got to just be the most annoying person to do a media tour with. It sucks for him.
Here’s a look at the incident in question:
As we can see here courtesy of Brazilian MMA writer Guilherme Cruz, Aldo actually came pretty close to putting one on his upcoming opponent:
The press conference was the final leg of their 10-city world tour as the duo continue to build hype for their scheduled July 11 bout at UFC 189. Throughout the tour, the brash McGregor has constantly looked to ruffle his opponent with various quips, but up until their Dublin tiff, the Brazilian has remained stone-faced.
At their previous date in London, McGregor predicted the fight would be over inside four minutes and that he would be “prepared to kill” to wrestle the belt off the classy Brazilian, per Martin Domin of the MailOnline.
Cruz thinks that the tour could have potentially affected Aldo’s mindset as the two prepare for the fight:
Despite the fracas and the consistent prodding from McGregor on the world tour, Mendes still thinks Aldo will have enough to triumph when the two square off in Las Vegas:
In my opinion, breaking down the fight, I see Aldo winning the fight. I could see McGregor giving Aldo some issues. Aldo has had some issues with southpaws in the past, but he always seems to figure them out.
One thing Conor does really good is using his range. He’s very lengthy and he punches well and keeps on the outside. That could be a problem for Aldo.
But, McGregor keeps his stance very wide. Aldo has some of the best, or the best leg kicks in the sport. He’s going to eat that leg up if McGregor doesn’t check his kicks.
While the anger of Aldo and indeed Mendes is understandable, it’d be unsavoury to see two athletes come to blows on the stage in the buildup to their fight.
With that in mind, credit must go to the Brazilian for maintaining composure in the heat of such an outlandish moment and before a raucous Dublin crowd; he’ll be acutely aware as anyone this is all part of McGregor’s bespoke and abrasive persona.
For the firebrand Irishman, with a reported 5,000 in attendance to watch the press conference, something like this was always going to be on the cards. Nonetheless, Paul Dollery of The42.ie thinks McGregor may have overstepped the mark on this occasion:
The perennial animosity seems to have done the trick, though. As noted by Domin of the MailOnline, the friction between the two has led to estimates of 1 million pay-per-view sales and a gate of $7 million (£4.7 million) at the MGM Grand.
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