Meet the man who made Jose Aldo lose his mind before UFC 194

Jonas Bilharinho is very familiar with Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor.

The first, he grew up watching as a young martial artist. The second, he watched as a professional martial artist before an encounter in his native Brazil brought them closer together than he might ever have imagined.

As close as you can get in MMA without actually meeting someone, that is.

Bilharinho, a karate expert and undefeated featherweight, impersonated McGregor during Aldo’s training camps for the Irish fighter, first at the ill-fated UFC 189 in July and then for tonight’s UFC 194 pay-per-view headliner.

“My style is very similar to his,” Bilharinho, whose nickname is “Speed,” told MMAjunkie. “I fight at distance, I prefer singular strikes, I’m a southpaw, and I’m taller. It wasn’t hard to emulate his game.”

Undisputed champ Aldo (25-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) and interim titleholder McGregor (18-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC) face off in a title-unifier that’s expected to be one of the biggest events in UFC history. It takes place at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena, and the main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Jose Aldo and Jonas Bilharinho

Bilharinho (6-0-1) met Aldo at a Brazilian MMA event after claiming the featherweight title in the long-running Jungle Fight promotion, where he had previously won the bantamweight belt.

At the time, Bilharinho was training with Team Nogueira. Aldo hails from the famed Nova Uniao. Usually, MMA teams do not collaborate. But the UFC champ’s coach, Andre Pederneiras, had an offer attractive to any up-and-coming fighter. It was a chance to train with a pound-for-pound great for one of the most famous (and infamous) fighters in MMA.

“We took that idea back to Team Nogueira,” Bilharinho said. “Rodrigo (Nogueira) and the whole team agreed right away with no problem. They told me it’d be a good experience. It really was.”

Bilharinho first worked with Aldo in June. Even his hair resembled McGregor, (though he said that’s “pure coincidence”). When the two sparred, he berated the UFC champ during sparring sessions as he expected the popular Irish fighter to do in the octagon. Aldo, according to reports, “lost his mind” at first. Then, he began to adjust.

Unfortunately, another training partner got a little too carried away during a sparring session. Alcides Nunes, an undefeated lightweight from Nova Uniao, caught Aldo with a spinning back kick to the ribs, breaking one. The fight with McGregor was off.

Aldo watched as McGregor went on to face Chad Mendes for the UFC interim featherweight title at UFC 189 and win by second-round TKO. McGregor’s star rose higher in the promotion, and a title-unifier was set up. The undisputed champ again called Bilharinho.

Bilharinho said he didn’t change much this time around. The trash-talking continued.

“I simply removed some strikes of mine that he doesn’t use, and I added some of the strikes that he uses, which I normally don’t,” he said. “That’s it, basically – I removed a few strikes, and added some others.”

There were no reports of Aldo losing his mind, however, so maybe the champ was the one who did the changing. Although he had fewer chances to be upset the second time around without the PR blitz of July’s canceled fight, the Brazilian appeared more composed in the run up to UFC 194.

After spending time opposite one fighter and attempting to impersonate the other, Bilharinho feels he knows both very well. And while his time with Aldo undoubtedly adds bias to his opinion, he is certain the undisputed champ will win as long as he performs as he has in the past.

“After training with Aldo, I can say with almost 100 percent certainty that Aldo wins,” Bilharinho said. “Of course, anything can happen in a fight. McGregor is skilled, intelligent and has great strikes. So Aldo can’t go easy on him. But based on each individual ability, I think Aldo surpasses McGregor in every MMA skill. All he needs to do is apply what he already does well, and he’ll win by knockout or submission.”

But it’s easy to make that kind of prediction in MMA. There are so many factors that play a part in whether a fighter lives up to his potential, and when punches are flying, a catastrophic shift can occur at any moment. Even Bilharinho admitted what McGregor does with his mouth is something equally as special as what he does in the cage.

“I don’t know anything about McGregor on a personal level,” he said. “But, regardless of what he says to the media, positive or negative, it’s working out. Who am I to say he’s wrong, when he sells more tickets than anyone else? He gets more of the public’s attention and sells the most pay-per-views. The truth is what he does is brilliant. That is undeniable.”

For more on UFC 194, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.