Jose Aldo has apologised for his recent outburst on Conor McGregor and has revealed he would like to train with The Notorious in Ireland.
The Brazilian MMA legend has retired from the sport but has since moved on to boxing and made his debut this month drawing with fellow MMA veteran Jeremy Stephens.
Around this time, McGregor had challenged Aldo to a rematch this time under boxing rules and wrote on Twitter, "Me and Aldo should box." When asked about McGregor's comments after the bout, Aldo launched into a tirade on the Irishman saying “He always talks a lot of s***. He has a scheduled fight. … Conor, shut your f*cking mouth. We were supposed to fight before in the UFC. You run, and now you still talk s***.”
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Aldo has since softened his stance on McGregor and in a recent interview with MMA Fighting’s Trocacao Franca podcast, he apologised for his outburst, complimented McGregor and said he would love to train with him in Ireland.
“I was a little heated, I had just re-watched the match in the locker room and I had won, everybody said it, and right after that a reporter asked me [about McGregor’s tweet], and I hadn’t seen what Conor had said.
"I called him names, laughed a lot, because of that. But when I got to Brazil, I messaged him apologizing because I saw it wasn’t his intention to challenge me, he was trying to give me a push. I misunderstood [his intentions]. But we’re cool again. Conor is my friend. I wish him all the best.”
“There are some great Irish boxers, so if I have the opportunity to go to Ireland and train with Conor and the Irish, I’m super open to it. Especially pro boxing. It’s a new world, and I have to learn from the best. Conor has good boxing, he fought Mayweather in boxing, so he has a lot to teach me.”
Remarkably, Aldo uses the word friend to describe his relationship with the man who knocked him out in 13 seconds to win the UFC Featherweight title back in 2015.
Prior to that fight, McGregor and Aldo's rivalry was one of the most heated the sport has ever seen. The Notorious famously stole Aldo's belt on more than one occasion, and the pair were bitter enemies for the better part of two years.
The tension has since thawed and when Aldo retired from MMA last year, McGregor paid a gushing tribute to his old foe. And when Aldo was announced for the UFC Hall of Fame earlier this year, McGregor simply commented "Earned," on the UFC's official social media post.
While Aldo's days in MMA are over, McGregor is gearing up for a return to the sport later this year. He is scheduled to fight American veteran Michael Chandler in his first fight since he broke his leg in defeat to Dustin Poirier in July 2021.
No date or venue has been announced for that bout, with Autumn 2023 looking the most likely date.
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