Jose Aldo gives Conor McGregor zero credit for Floyd Mayweather fight - ‘I don’t see a moral victory’

The superfight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor sparked a lot of response from the combat sports world. McGregor’s trek over from mixed martial arts (MMA) to the boxing ring was a gutsy one, which ultimately paid off financially, but the 29-year-old Irishman fell short at the hands of a Mayweather 10th-round TKO (highlights here).

While many people have praised McGregor for his efforts against one of the best boxers of all time, others believe “Notorious” got what was coming to him. As you could have guessed, former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo is one of the latter.

Remember, Aldo lost to McGregor via 13-second knockout back in 2015. The Brazilian has been publicly battling “Notorious” ever since and is taking aim once again following McGregor’s TKO loss to Mayweather.

“Conor doesn’t have good cardio, and (they) knew he’s not used to boxing,” Aldo said during a recent opening of one of his burger joints in Rio de Janeiro (h/t MMA junkie). “Mayweather was closed up, just waiting for the time to pounce. The guy hadn’t fought for two years.

“A lot of people talk a lot of crap, like, ‘Oh, he landed many more blows than (Manny) Pacquiao or (Miguel) Cotto and everyone.’ But no one says that (Mayweather) didn’t fight for two years. He didn’t even prepare for the fight. He knew, like everyone at the gym said, that it would be very hard (for McGregor to win) – very, very hard.”

Unlike most people who are saying McGregor still won despite actually losing the massive superfight, Aldo doesn’t believe the Irishman walked away with a moral victory after his professional boxing debut.

“Of course not,” Aldo said. “Moral? First of all, you try to prove that with someone who’s almost 41, who’s been away (from the sport). Of course, it was a money fight. A moral victory would have been taking on an active boxer, a champion, and then fought him. And then you’d see how he would barely last a round. Because it’s an entirely 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.”

Considering Mayweather vs. McGregor was a one-off event for the ages it’s unlikely we’ll ever get the chance to see another MMA striker take his chances inside of the boxing ring. But if Aldo is able to climb the rankings once again in the UFC’s featherweight division, or even the lightweight division, he may get another opportunity to knock off McGregor.