Champ Jose Aldo didn't bother to watch Conor McGregor vs. Chad Mendes

UFC featherweight champ Jose Aldo and his longtime coach Andre Pederneiras never gave Chad Mendes much of a chance to beat Conor McGregor when he stepped in to co-headline UFC 189 back in July.

But Aldo (25-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) didn’t wait around to see if his prediction was true. Instead, he took in a soccer game.

“I don’t care about him, and I don’t care about what he’s doing,” said the Brazilian champ, who on Dec. 12 meets McGregor (18-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC) in a title unifier that serves as UFC 194’s pay-per-view main event.

McGregor won the interim title at UFC 189 when he stopped Mendes in the third round via TKO. Mendes, a three-time title contender who’s twice lost to Aldo, stepped in as a short-notice replacement when Aldo was forced to withdraw from the blockbuster July 11 pay-per-view with an injured rib.

Mendes initially availed himself well against McGregor, taking down the Irish fighter and punishing him with ground and pound. But he appeared to tire before being caught with a flurry of punches. Pederneiras said it was no accident that Mendes lost the way he did.

“Chad Mendes, he’s trained all his life to beat all the guys in wrestling and MMA,” the coach said. “Wrestlers like Chad Mendes are very prepared physically to beat the other guys. If not, he loses, for sure. If you give (a fight) like that, with 18 days to prepare, it’s impossible.”

Aldo echoed his coach’s opinion and thus didn’t have much interest in watching Mendes. In general, though, he doesn’t watch his opponents before he fights them. He prefers to lean on his team to prepare him for the upcoming threat.

Aldo’s stance still didn’t keep him from finding out what happened when his rival fought Mendes.

“A lot of friends called me and told me, ‘You’re going to kill this guy for sure,’” he said of McGregor.

Check out the above video to get Aldo and Pederneiras’ thoughts on the UFC 189 headliner and what’s in store for UFC 194.

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