Jose Aldo’s head coach praises Conor McGregor

Former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo is one of the biggest Conor McGregor critics out there. Given this, his reaction to McGregor’s 10th-round TKO loss to boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr. wasn’t particularly surprising:

https://twitter.com/josealdojunior/status/901668806455681024

Yet Aldo’s dislike of McGregor, which stems from their 2015 battle, which McGregor won by 13-second knockout, doesn’t seem to extend to the rest of his camp. In fact, Aldo’s head coach Andre Pederneiras recently shared some praise for McGregor with Guilherme Cruz of MMAFighting.com.

“If I told you I didn’t think Conor had any chance I’d by lying,” Pederneiras said of McGregor after the recent Shooto Brazil 74 event. “I thought he had a chance in the first two rounds if one hand landed and rocked (Mayweather), but I knew that if it went past that it would be over because he doesn’t have the experience. When (Mayweather) got his hands up and forced McGregor to throw several punches in his guard, the fight was over. He ‘ate’ (McGregor’s) cardio.”

“No doubt about it,” Pederneiras continued when discussing what many regard as a moral victory for McGregor. “Anyone who underrates Conor as a fighter is crazy. He has proven a long time ago that he’s a great fighter. (…) If you put Mayweather to fight 12 rounds (in MMA) against Conor, I don’t think he goes past the first. He goes to his sport and lasts 10 rounds. I think Mayweather was the one who lost.“

What do you think of Andre Pederneiras’ assessment of Conor McGregor, and the Irishman’s riveting boxing match with Floyd Mayweather?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 8/30/2017.