LAS VEGAS – Jose Aldo blew it.
No, he didn’t blow it in getting knocked out by Conor McGregor in just 13 seconds on Saturday at the MGM Grand in their featherweight title fight at UFC 194.
That happens, and the result of one fight does nothing to change the fact that Aldo is one of the great fighters of all time. A lifetime of fighting excellence can’t be erased because of a 13-second mistake.
But Aldo lost any moral authority he may have had to demand an immediate rematch from McGregor by his behavior during the promotion and then immediately after the fight.
The final results still aren’t in, but McGregor said at the post-fight news conference on Saturday the event has a chance to surpass UFC 100 as the best-selling and highest-grossing UFC pay-per-view ever. At the very least, it seems certain that it will surpass UFC 193 as the second-biggest in company history.
The card was a year in the making. When McGregor stopped Dennis Siver in the early stages of the second round of a Fight Night card in Boston on Jan. 18, he leaped the cage and ran into the crowd, where Aldo was seated cageside.
That was the unofficial start of the Aldo-McGregor promotion. The bout was originally scheduled for July 11 at UFC 189, and the UFC arranged a world tour. It covered eight cities in five countries in 11 days, going from Rio de Janeiro to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Boston, New York, Toronto, London and Dublin.
The July bout was postponed when Aldo had to pull out because of a rib injury, and it was rescheduled for UFC 194. So McGregor stopped Chad Mendes at UFC 189 and immediately started up on the Aldo promotion again that night.
Most of the work in the promotion was done, of course, by McGregor. There is a language barrier that exists with Aldo, as he speaks Portuguese and not English.
But Aldo has never been one to do much promotion, preferring to let his fighting speak for itself. There are quite a few people who prefer that approach to McGregor’s outrageous, audacious, over-the-top style.
They’re in the minority, though, as McGregor has risen from virtual obscurity to the biggest combat sports star in the world in a little less than three years.
For as great as Aldo has been – prior to the fight, many mixed martial arts experts regarded him as the finest fighter in history – he’s never been a particularly good ticket or pay-per-view seller.
The fact that he failed to show at the post-fight news conference Saturday is simply another in the slew of public relations gaffes he continues to make.
He was devastated by the loss, which is hardly unexpected. A poignant photo of Aldo and his team in their locker room after the fight hit social media, and it demonstrated more than words could the depth of despair felt in his camp.
Aldo was kneeling on a mat, head down, clearly distraught by what had just happened, while his teammates sat around him forlornly.
Aldo asked for a rematch, but he skipped the best opportunity to make his case for it. Had he come to the post-fight news conference and shown a bit of class, he could have built up support.
Former middleweight champion Chris Weidman didn’t show, but he had an excuse: He was badly beaten and was taken to a local hospital for examination. Safety concerns must always trump everything else in the fight game.
But Aldo took one big punch and was fine by the time he got to his locker room. He didn’t need to go to the hospital. Nothing prevented him from taking 20 minutes or so to attend the news conference, where he could have congratulated McGregor on the win, alleviated any concerns fans had about his health and made his case for a rematch.
As he has done throughout his career, though, Aldo eschewed the chance to make a positive impression.
Aldo has fought in the U.S. for more than seven years now, but he’s largely unknown to reporters who have covered him. He doesn’t make himself particularly available, and he doesn’t give much of himself when he does meet the media.
That may not matter much to him, but when he’s calling for an immediate rematch is exactly when he needs the media to take up his case.
There is an Aldo-McGregor fatigue that has set in after the fight was promoted for the better part of a year.
And McGregor deserves the opportunity to pick the fight he wants to take next.
It makes the most sense for him to challenge the winner of Saturday’s bout in Orlando, Fla., between champion Rafael dos Anjos and top contender Donald Cerrone for the lightweight belt in his next bout.
McGregor wants to be a two-division champion, and a bout with the winner would figure to do massive business.
Ronda Rousey is going to get a rematch with Holly Holm, likely at UFC 200, because the public is intensely interested in seeing it. Plus, no one has done more for the UFC or the sport of mixed martial arts over the last several years than Rousey.
If any fighter ever deserved an immediate rematch, it’s her.
Aldo is a different story. There isn’t much of an outcry for the public to see him fight again, particularly right away. There was no controversy regarding the outcome.
McGregor said what he would do and then went out and did it.
That, and all the work he did in selling the fight has afforded him the luxury of calling his shots.
Aldo has no such luxury, and it’s his own fault he does not.
He’s only 29, still in his prime and is still a fearsome fighter. He’s going to see McGregor at some point in the future, whether at featherweight or lightweight.
But for now, Aldo is at the mercy of McGregor.
McGregor is the new king, and it’s always good to be king.
