UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo has accused Conor McGregor, his outspoken opponent at UFC 189, of taking performance-enhancing drugs.
The usually reserved Brazilian's comments come as a retaliation to McGregor's usual pre-fight trash talk.
The Irishman recently suggested most Brazilian fighters are guilty of taking illegal substances, something Aldo retorted by insisting on increased drug testing before his July 11 Las Vegas battle with the Notorious one, reported by Matt Erickson and Rick Lee of MMAjunkie:
He's the one that's taking substances. There's no surprise why he fights in this weight class. In his country, they don't even have a commission to put rules on it. Something that I'm going to do, I'm going to ask for doping tests to be given (to McGregor) every single week, and I'm here to be tested to prove that (I'm clean).
McGregor previously appeared to take a dig at Brazilian fighters, including Anderson Silva and Cristiane "Cyborg" Justino, both of whom have failed drug tests in recent times.
This is "Brazilian culture," McGregor said, adding, "The women are on it, the men are on it; I don't know what to think. I don't have to think. (The fight) is in Vegas. We're in a new age. The sport is being cleaned."
The UFC recently revealed huge changes in its bid to tackle doping, reported by Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com. This includes a multimillion-dollar initiative to ensure its entire roster is subject to year-round testing.
Random drug testing carried out by an outside agency will also be used. It was perhaps symbolic this announcement came shortly after Silva—one of the sport's biggest stars ever—tested positive before and after his fight with Nick Diaz.
Interestingly, Aldo previously suggested he doesn't care if his opponents are doping. "If an athlete uses something or not, I don't see any problem," he said during an interview with Globo's Combate (h/t Zane Simon and Fernando Arbex of Bloody Elbow). "I'm not going to crucify the guy if he is or isn't doped. That changes nothing to me. The same punch that hits a clean face hits a doped one."
Aldo did suggest "it's wrong when you try to gain an advantage over (someone) who is clean." The 28-year-old's contradictory views aren't shared by many, including UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, noted during her interview with Fox Sports 1:
"The more testing there is, the happier I am" - @RondaRousey on the new @UFC drug testing rules. via @FOXSportsLive https://t.co/4a6ZRnJPIt
— FOX Sports 1 (@FOXSports1) February 20, 2015
It's perhaps beneficial not to take Aldo and McGregor's comments at face value. Both are trying to get into each other's heads by discussing such a serious subject. McGregor is used to making this amount of noise and is likely to ramp up the intensity of his put-downs as the fight approaches.
He showed this during a recent interview alongside Aldo on Fox Sports 1:
"I am your daddy" - @TheNotoriousMMA has fighting words for Jose Aldo on @FOXSportsLive https://t.co/Qy83HJIRwQ
— FOX Sports 1 (@FOXSports1) March 25, 2015
McGregor was also seen taunting his upcoming foe with the championship belt, reported by the Daily Mail:
Aldo is currently a slight favourite to take the victory, per Oddschecker.com. The more he engages with McGregor, however, the more likely he is to lose focus on the difficult task at hand.
Since losing to Joseph Duffy via submission during his time in the Cage Warriors Fighting Championship, McGregor has won 11 of his 13 fights by knockout or TKO. (He won via decision and submission in the other two.)
He is fearless, ambitious and intelligent. Luring Aldo into the trash-talking game is step one on the road to taking his belt.
We can expect plenty of further exchanges between the pair in the coming months. The Vegas encounter could be a watershed moment for McGregor's UFC career, taking him to new heights in the organisation.
For Aldo, he'll be hoping to brush the wily Irishman away like he did with Chad Mendes, Frankie Edgar and a host of others.
