The rivalry between Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor has become one of the UFC’s most compelling storylines, and Aldo’s coach Andre Pederneiras is doing his part to ramp up the rhetoric before the highly anticipated Dec. 2 showdown at UFC 194.
"Aldo has a great attitude. During the fight, what (McGregor) said will make no difference. He will hit McGregor anywhere he can - and with a lot of desire,” Pederneiras told UFC Brazil between training sessions at the famed Nova Uniao gym in Rio de Janeiro.
The tension between the Brazilian champ and the brash Irishman has never been greater, Pederneiras said.
“The only fighter who I remember provoking Aldo was Manvel Gamburyan, who spent the fight week trying to intimidate him (in the defunct WEC, in 2010),” Pederneiras recalled. “Aldo will get in the Octagon, show everything that we trained and leave as a winner.”
Pederneiras also believes McGregor was less aggressive in their first face-off for UFC 194, during a recent meeting at the Ultimate Fighter house in Las Vegas, and he spoke of a possible McGregor letdown following his defeat of Chad Mendes.
“What happens to McGregor matters very little,” Pederneiras said. “If he was expecting a Cinderella dream when he had the belt, maybe he noticed this is the real world, and a beating will happen on the day the fights happens. That’s it.”
