Jose Aldo knows better than most what Conor McGregor is capable of in the octagon, and he refused to write “The Notorious” off in his UFC 329 comeback fight against Max Holloway.
McGregor infamously slept Aldo just 13 seconds into their fight when they finally faced each other back in 2015. That may be why “Scarface” is one of the few people giving his buddy Mac a decent chance to win when he faces Holloway, who has fought the best of the best over the past five years as McGregor sat on the bench.
“For me it’s a very competitive fight,” Aldo told Covers.com. “McGregor may be the betting underdog, but honestly, I think he has a better chance of beating Max today than he had of beating Khabib back then.”
“The favorite is Max Holloway, not because he’s vastly superior, but because he’s still active. He’s fighting regularly, coming off strong performances and staying in competition mode. Conor is an unknown quantity. We haven’t seen him fight in a very long time. We don’t know where his conditioning, timing or confidence are at. That’s why I put Max one step ahead.”
With that said, Aldo made the case for a McGregor win.
“That doesn’t mean Conor can’t go in there and knock [Max] out,” Aldo said. “That can absolutely happen. And it wouldn’t be any disgrace for Max because Conor is still a world-class striker with experience, power and the technical tools to win any fight.”
“So I have Max slightly ahead, but I’m a long way from saying Conor has no chance. The biggest question right now is simply which version of McGregor is going to show up on fight night.”
Holloway was the one who ended Aldo’s era at the top of the featherweight division, beating the Brazilian in back-to-back fights with third round knockouts.
“He’s an extremely intelligent fighter, with very refined boxing, great fight IQ and an excellent ability to absorb shots,” Aldo said of Holloway. “Today he’s not exactly the same fighter he was years ago because he’s been through a lot of wars during his career. But he’s still an exceptional fighter.”
We’ve seen Holloway dismantle so many great fighters that it’s hard to imagine McGregor rising to the occasion after so many years off and so much hard partying. But Aldo is right: McGregor is a legend for a reason. He has amazing knockout ability and even more potential power at 170 pounds.
We’re less than a week away from UFC 329 on July 11th and we can’t wait to see what Conor and Max bring to the table in their rematch 13 years in the making.
