Jose Aldo refutes claims Conor McGregor offered him a compromise to fight at UFC 189

More mind games from The Notorious?

Jose Aldo made a stark pronouncement when he was asked if he would definitely be at UFC 194. Through his translator, the Brazilian declared: "That is for certain. I will be there. That is more certain than all of our deaths in the future. I will be there and I will win, as usual." More certain than all of our deaths? Perhaps it sounds more uplifting in Portuguese. It was a fair question to ask Aldo, following his withdrawal from UFC 189 just two weeks before it took place. The featherweight champion fractured his ribs in training and, for the fifth time in his fight history, withdrew from a bout. Aldo did not rise to much of Conor McGregor's bait during the phone pow-wow but he did deny one claim from the Irishman. McGregor commented, "He bruised his rib and pulled out of the fight. And I still told him, when he bruised his rib, 'Show up and I won't target your body'. I said that to him. "'Show up and I won't hit you once in the body. I'll hit you clean in the face'. "And he still didn't show." Aldo said, "That wasn't the issue at all. He is not going to be able to find me in [the octagon]. He won't be able to hit me in the body anyway. "The issue was mainly the weight cut with the ribs." He added, "Conor wasn't going to call me. He got scared when he saw me so why the hell is he going to call me... I don't even have to say anything about his bad knee. Don't worry - wherever I hit him, he is going to go to sleep." The last word, of course, went to McGregor. "I'll breathe easier when he lands on U.S soil... I feel we're going to go ahead with it. I hope so. "I'll be there, like I always am."