Reigning Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) featherweight champion, Jose Aldo, is the current No. 2 pound-for-pound best fighter in the world and hasn't tasted defeat in nearly a decade.
He's also proven to be one of he sport's most lethal strikers and has a bevy of knockouts to his credit.
Still, that didn't stop UFC President Dana White from criticizing his performance against Ricardo Lamas at UFC 169 earlier this year, saying that "Junior" would be at the top of the pound-for-pound list if he would just start "letting go" and not "lay back."
And just like he doesn't care about rankings, Aldo says he could care less what criticism White throws his way. Because at the end of the day, he's a promoter, not his trainer.
His words to MMA Fighting:
"I don't care what he says. He's a businessman, he wants to promote his shows. He wants us to go in there and do our best without thinking about the consequences. Whatever he says, I don't care. I care about what Andre (Pederneiras) tells me, what we have to train and do. That's what I focus on. I'm still evolving. I still have much to do to get better. That's what I focus on. If I'm the No. 1 or not, I leave that to the media and the fans. To me, I'll always be the best. I feel I'm the best technically speaking, but I never think I'm the best and I'm unbeatable. I do everything I can to stay champion."
According to Aldo, getting caught up with what everyone has to say, bad or good, can sometimes be a downfall.
Using his teammate Renan Barao as a prime example, Aldo says the former bantamweight kingpin may have "lost himself" in all the praise Dana was giving him leading up to the fight against T.J. Dillashaw at UFC 173.
A fight that saw Renan cough up his strap.
"I think Barao is an outstanding fighter and has everything to be the champion, but he lost himself with everything that was said. He got himself into what Dana was saying, that he was unbeatable and everything. We try to stay focused because the other guy is also training to win."
I don't think Renan will have to worry about getting caught up in Dana's praise for quite some time.
In the end, Aldo is going to keep doing what he does best, and that's win fights. Regardless if he doesn't do it the way his boss would like him to.