Jose Aldo’s anger in Rio tells as McGregor draws first blood

There was an eerily familiar look on the face of featherweight champion Jose Aldo in the immediate aftermath of Friday’s UFC 189 press conference in Rio de Janeiro.

Marcus Brimage had it, as did Diego Brandao, Dustin Poirier and Dennis Siver. Aldo’s customary mischievous smirk was nowhere to be found, having been replaced by a glare oozing bewilderment and rage.

Perhaps, like his less-celebrated contemporaries, he just hadn’t anticipated what an afternoon in close proximity to Conor McGregor would entail. He certainly does now, and the thought of being exposed to the Dubliner’s unique verbal onslaught – eight more times, across four countries in quick succession – must be vexing to say the least.

It’s a curious thought whether or not Aldo can appreciate the irony in a man who he has described as a joker being able to illicit such an emotional reaction from him with minimal effort. Or, for that matter, that Rio was just the first skirmish in what promises to be a drawn-out, psychological war of attrition waged by McGregor between now and July 11^th.

Despite the disparity in time the pair have spent at the pinnacle of MMA, McGregor is infinitely more experienced and adept in conjuring hype and headlines, as well as the intricacies of undermining an opponent long before standing across the cage from him.

Aldo has never been asked to carry an event by weight of his persona, and undergo the relentless tedium of answering the same questions time and again. Nor has he ever been paired with a challenger bent on berating him at every turn. The questions of their respective fighting prowess will answered in due course, but for what comes in the interim, McGregor is the pound-for-pound king.

For those still dismissing McGregor as a crass loudmouth who has talked his way to premature wealth and status, they’re obviously missing the point. Because, it’s the acute awareness that his words and posturing can be as potent as his fists, which has enabled him to cause foes to internally capitulate in a haze of fear and anger.

Amazingly, at this stage in his storied career, Aldo is about to wage into unchartered territory. Even in his adopted hometown of Rio, where he enjoys God-like status, he looked ill-equipped to deal with McGregor’s gamesmanship. Of course, that’s because he’s never had to before.

There was some mild jibes prior to his re-match with Chad Mendes, but the McGregor treatment is night and day in comparison. Language-barrier notwithstanding, the SBG export goaded and taunted as the Brazilian fans, like their hero, were baited expertly. It’s almost unnerving how equally comfortable McGregor is as the villain as he is the hero. He plays the role of antagonist and protagonist with equal aplomb.

Tonight in Las Vegas, for the viewing pleasure of the media only, hostilities will resume, and it will be interesting to see how Aldo fares, now that he knows what to expect from the pretender. Maybe, like so many of the fighters he’s faced in the past, Aldo will veer towards not losing as supposed to actual victory. But make no mistake, for Conor McGregor, this title fight started the moment Herb Dean pulled him off Dennis Siver.

 @oldmanrooney