In the wake of Conor McGregor's altercation with referee Marc Goddard after jumping the cage to celebrate teammate Charlie Ward's victory at Bellator 187 in Dublin last weekend, the Dubliner has faced a lot of criticism for his actions.
As well as being condemned by a panel of journalists on RTE, and it being suggested that he should have been arrested on the BBC, the MMA world has also hit out at McGregor's actions with many condemning his decision to get physical with the referee and other officials.
He has, however, been defended from a rather surprising source as none other than Jose Aldo gave his view. Aldo is preparing for a rematch with Max Holloway for the featherweight title appears to have accepted that he will be asked to comment on the latest news regarding the man who knocked him out in 13 seconds wherever he goes.
Having admitted that he did not watch the footage, Aldo sympathised with McGregor as he knows how emotional it can be to watch a friend fight from cageside according to MMAFighting.com.
I haven’t seen the video, but I heard about it. I think it’s normal. He’s an emotional guy, and when an Irishman is fighting the Irish people embrace them a lot. I don’t condemn him.
He didn’t do that for attention, he’s done that before. When we did The Ultimate Fighter, an athlete from his team won and he went up there and in there, he even tore his pants. He’s really emotional, and I don’t condemn him for what he’s done.
How many times have I invaded the cage when someone close to me is fighting? I really go there. The referee talks to me, but I still do it. I think it’s the heat of the moment, but there are bigger things than just the rules.
It's interesting that he brought up the pants-ripping moment form the Ultimate Fighter, although he did not shove a referee and slap an official on that occasion.
Aldo is clearly in a better place to discuss the man he so desperately wants another crack at than he was before his second UFC loss to Max Holloway, so it will be interesting to see if we see the Aldo of old when he tries to reclaim the belt he held for so long at UFC 218.
