Though it appeared, last December at least, that Conor McGregor and José Aldo had finally buried the hatchet via a 13-second McGregor stoppage, the Brazilian has made no bones about the fact that he wants a rematch with the Crumlin man in the past 10 months or so.
With Aldo vanquished at 145, McGregor no longer directs the same ire towards his old adversary as he did in 2015, and Aldo for his part is more concerned by The Notorious' perceived grasp on the gonads of the UFC, as McGregor enters his lightweight title clash with Eddie Alvarez still holding his featherweight belt despite not once defending it this year.
That being said, they're hardly best mates; Aldo simply isn't on McGregor's radar for the time being, but the pair still trade public barbs whenever the opportunity arises. Which makes their respective accommodation for UFC 200 festivities all the more incredible.
Aldo's coach Andre Pederneiras has revealed to Combate that his charge and McGregor were put up in hotel rooms literally next to each other following Aldo's victory over Frankie Edgar in Las Vegas:
After Aldo's fight with Frankie, he stayed in Las Vegas one week with his wife.
It must have been a prank because Lorenzo [Fertitta] put Jose in a room next to McGregor. So, both of them were on the balcony, one looked to the other side, the other looked at the other, and they were side by side.
They even joked about it. In reality, there isn't any grudge.
One of the main things I pass on to my athletes is that sport is just sport. Just because you lost to someone, there is no need to harbour any anger towards them. That's it.
N'gawww...
Well, if Bebo taught us anything, it's that if something is meant to be, it will be. Or perhaps Mr. Fertitta just did it for the shits and giggles before selling his shares in the company and getting out of dodge. In any case, it's a rather entertaining notion, and one which most MMA fans wouldn't have minded being a fly on the wall for.
[Combate]
