The 13-second knockout loss to Conor McGregor at UFC 194 has undoubtedly been the most devastating one in Jose Aldo’s career. However, it obviously has also reinvigorated his passion for fighting, at least according to his Muay Thai coach Emerson Falcao and wife Vivianne Pereira.
“We started preparing the day he came back from the McGregor fight,” Falcao said during the first episode of the UFC 200 Embedded video-blog series, which you can watch above. “The McGregor loss is what he needed to get remotivated.”
Aldo hasn’t been defeated for nearly ten years before he fell victim to a McGregor counter left hook last December.
After racking up impressive back-to-back stoppage wins during his come up in the WEC, most of his fights went to a decision later in his career, just as his first bout with Frankie Edgar did at UFC 156 three years ago.
If we’re to believe Aldo’s wife Vivianne Pereira, this could change when both men meet again at UFC 200 this weekend.
“Aldo is going back to his old roots,” Pereira said. “He’s training like he did back in the WEC. He’s training to finish the fight. He’s gonna get in there and make it happen. I think we’ll see a new Aldo with a brand new motivation.”
“I believe it will be a KO,” Falcao agreed. “If not, it will be fight of the night.”
Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar will fight for the interim-featherweight title in the main portion of the UFC 200 card this Saturday at T-Mobile arena in Las Vegas, NV. The event is headlined by a 205-pound title fight between Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones, as well as the comeback of Brock Lesnar.