Anyone who watched Jose Aldo's comprehensive yet relatively cautious decision win against Frankie Edgar at UFC 200 might well have noticed that the Brazilian didn't unleash very many of the thunderous leg kicks which have become his modus operandi throughout his career -- and according to Aldo himself, there is a very interesting reason for that.
Speaking to Brazilian media today at a media day at his Nova Uniao gym, Aldo said he approached fighters who were training in the same area as Edgar during fight week to get a real-time update of the type of techniques that his opponent would be using in their fight.
If I kicked, he’d take me down. We had a few spies from the other side, people that were training with him the entire week, and they always came and talked to us. So I had to stop kicking and my left hand, because he would counter on that.
This is an interesting revelation from Aldo, a fighter who had previously expressed concern that Conor McGregor had a mole in his training camp ahead of their originally scheduled bout at UFC 189 last July. McGregor claimed to have seen footage of Aldo's camp and remarked a training partner - believed to be then Jungle Fight two-weight world champion Jonas Bilharino - was brought on board to directly mimick the Irishman's style.
McGregor said to UFC Embedded last year:
He brought in a guy to mimic me and the guy that mimicked me put him out of the fight with a spin kick that went wide. I saw it. It was a sloppy kick. It was embarrassing to even get caught with a shot like that.
It just goes to show how flat and stuck he is. There’s no one that can mimic me. I have my spies in their camp so I see everything that goes on in that camp.
These words seem to have made an impact with the UFC's interim featherweight champion. When asked if he was serious as to having people report back on his opponent, Aldo again confirmed that what he was saying is true.
Of course I had. Otherwise, why wouldn’t I kick? That’s my instinct. So we always have a spy. We send someone to be a part of that training [room] and then they give us information. We get that information and know what they are training.
Typically the UFC separates the fighters during fight week and has half of them warm-up and train in one large function room at the fighter hotel and the other group in another room, well away from their upcoming opponents.
Aldo said that he frequently takes advantage of this.
Thank God it always happens, man. We always have Brazilians in the other corners. When I go train in the first day, I also see the list of cornerman. And, if there’s a Brazilian, we go after him and ask him to take a look, because that helps a lot.
[MMAFighting]
