Jose Aldo has revealed he and Conor McGregor are now friends despite once being bitter UFC rivals.
UFC legend Aldo, 36, was the No.1 target on McGregor's radar when the Irishman signed for the promotion almost a decade ago. 'Notorious' worked his way up the featherweight rankings and eventually landed himself a title shot against longtime champion Aldo, with the pair butting heads for months before their highly-anticipated fight in December 2015.
McGregor ended Aldo's decade-long unbeaten reign by knocking him out in just 13 seconds, setting a yet-to-be-broken record for the quickest finish in a UFC title fight. Seven years on from their grudge fight and Aldo has revealed that he and McGregor are good friends, often messaging each other on Instagram.
"I do have a lot of respect for him, we are friends. We follow each other on Instagram and exchange dialogue there. Fans sometimes come up to me and say 'do you feel like beating McGregor' and I say 'how can I do that, he gave me the most money'. I have nothing but respect for him, we have a good friendship," Aldo told reporters.
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Aldo also confirmed a rumour in which McGregor reportedly left a pair of red panties on his hotel door after the Brazilian reclaimed his featherweight title against Frankie Edgar a year after losing to McGregor. The Irishman became synonymous with his 'red panty' catchphrase after delivering the line at a press conference and Aldo insisted his rival's gesture was just "light hearted fun".
"It was a bit of light hearted fun," Aldo said. "I think we were in the Red Rock which is owned by Lorenzo [Fertitta] in Las Vegas. We were window-to-window and it was the night that I beat Frankie Edgar, he just sent it out as a light hearted joke. I didn't do anything with it but maybe I could get my wife to wear it or something."
Aldo competed in his final UFC fight last August and is now expected to crossover to boxing. McGregor was full of praise for the last fights of Aldo's career as the Brazilian won three of his last four fights at 135lb, coming within touching distance of a second title shot at the weight class.
“Good to see Aldo had a good win the other week; very happy to see that,” McGregor said after Aldo beat Pedro Munhoz in 2021. “I’ll tell you what – What a warrior! What a warrior that man is! It was an honour to share the octagon. I would love him to do it again, you know. He deserved more, I thought. But, you know, a lot of respect for Jose Aldo.”
