Jose Aldo: Conor McGregor is a 'great fighter,' but now has to back up all of his trash talk

Fiery 145-pound phenom Conor McGregor can talk a good game, but can he back it up?

That's the question current Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo offered up to MMA Fighting.

Only two fights into his Octagon career (both wins), the competition for Conor will only get stiffer, and that's when the mixed martial arts (MMA) world will truly find out if the "Irish guy" -- as Aldo called him -- can back up all of the fire he's been spewing.

"The Irish guy? I'm always watching every featherweight that fights in the UFC because we can eventually fight in the future. He's a great fighter. He's starting now, but he is already saying some polemical things. It's part of the business. The (talking) put him on the map, so now he will have to show everything he has talked about. It's part of the business. He hasn't spoken my name, he only talked about the guys below me in the division. It's his personality. If he talks, he knows what he's doing. Let's see in the future when he fights more if he can back it up."

Indeed, the outspoken Irishman isn't shy about speaking his mind, like when he recently put most of the UFC 145-pound division -- sans "Junior" -- on blast, labeling them "old" and "boring."

While still a novice under the UFC banner, "Notorious" has already garned media attention that would make most Octagon veterans jealous. However, he'll have to wait a few months before he's under the spotlight again following surgery to repair a minor sprain to his Lateral Collateral Ligament (LCL), suffered during his victory over Max Holloway at UFC Fight Night 26.

In the meantime, the peaheads 145-pound weight class will stay very busy and there will be no shortage of contenders eager to welcome him back into the cage.

Perhaps the winner of this fight?