Conor McGregor gjorde bättre ifrån sig än vad som förväntades av honom, men Floyd Mayweather vann ändå mega-boxningsfighten på ett något komfortabelt sätt. Enligt sin förre rival Jose Aldo var detta dock ingen moralisk seger för irländaren.
Bloodyelbow.com rapporterar hans ord som följande:
Of course not. It’s not a moral (victory). First of all, you’re trying to prove (what) against a 41-year-old fighter who hasn’t fought in years… Of course, it’s a fight for a lot of money, but a moral victory would be against an active boxer, a champion. Then he wouldn’t even last a round. It’s a completely different sport.
We need to put ourselves in our places. I’m an MMA athlete. I can’t go tomorrow and say I’m going to do muay Thai in Thailand with a Thai fighter, because I can punch and kick well. There’s no way. Each one in their places. I respect martial arts, so I put myself in my place. I don’t see a moral victory.
Aldo anser att till och med pensionerad Mayweather inte kunde ta McGregor på allvar och att boxningslegenden vann matchen enkelt.
Mayweather just waited for the time to attack. He hasn’t fought in two years. Many people talk shit, not the media, but many people keep saying ‘oh, he landed more punches than Pacquiao, Cotto and everyone else,’ but they don’t take into consideration that (Mayweather) hasn’t fought in two years. He didn’t even train properly for the fight. He knew it would work. Brother, one chance in a million for Conor to defeat Mayweather.
Trots detta anser Aldo att det var positivt att superfighten satte MMA i rampljuset då detta kan leda till att MMA–fighters kan bli bättre betalda i framtiden.
I think this fight was good because of that, it put MMA in the spotlight. I’m happy for that. I think that’s something good for fighters. We deserve to make more (money). Not taking anything away from other sports, but our sport is unique. We don’t train only one martial art per day, we train three or four, plus conditioning training. We deserve to make a lot more than we make.
Nothing against it, I’m happy because the guy did a big fight and promoted MMA, I’m happy because of that, but not about the fight. Nobody liked the fight. It was a joke. I don’t know how people saw it here in Brazil, but in America the comments that I heard were those. It was a circus fight.
Aldo erkände även att han inte såg fighten mellan Mayweather och UFC-mästaren live då han befann sig vid en fotbollsmatch samtidigt. Aldo vill även fightas klart sina återstående matcher i sitt UFC-kontrakt för att kunna gå över till boxning.
Det bör nämnas att många vid Aldos gym Nova Uniao faktiskt ansåg att McGregor vann en moralisk seger i matchen mot Mayweather. Även Aldos legendariska tränare Andre Pederneiras ansåg detta.
