RIO DE JANEIRO – Conor McGregor is still considered by Brazilian UFC fighters to be a highly profitable, winnable opponent inside the octagon.
UFC champion Alex Pereira was part of a UFC Q&A in Rio de Janeiro. A fan asked Pereira which UFC fighter — Jose Aldo or Charles Oliveira — had a better chance at defeating “The Notorious.” “Poatan,” who said that all three had the ability to defeat the Irish star, also included Aldo’s pound kingpin.
” I pick ‘Poatan”,” Aldo laughed. “‘Poatan’ can knock him out. Isn’t [McGregor] a heavyweight now, going to 185 pounds? We have Rafael at 170, we have Charles at 155. Our team is ready. Everybody wants this opportunity [laughs].”
Aldo laughed that McGregor was getting “huge” now that USADA hasn’t been knocking at his door. McGregor will require six months training to be eligible for re-entry. Oliveira, dos Anjos and others would be happy to receive him back when it happens.
“There are no fools here, everybody knows we want this fight because he’ll give us a lot of money, but I do think he’s a guy that needs to be hyped,” said Oliveira, who has yet to book a fight since coming up short against Islam Makhachev for the UFC belt. “I’ve asked for this fight plenty of times and he never says anything. I’ll be ready to fight him the day he wants, but I won’t call him out anymore.”
Dos anjos was also the UFC lightweight champion in the past, and at one time was set to defend it against McGregor. However, he revealed that he had just signed a long-term contract with UFC but that despite the fact that ‘I don’t see myself fighting at 155 again, I do not think so.
“Conor chooses his fights,” dos Anjos stated of the ex-two-division champion. “Like Charles said, everybody wants this fight because it will be lucrative. He chooses his fights. When he feels that’s the fight for him, he’ll choose it. We’ll be waiting but we’ll continue fighting in the meantime.”
“McGregor cheated a while back,” Oliveira said. Rafael stated that he picks his fights. He looks at him and says, “I can beat that one,” and then signs the contract. He’s right not to fight me because he knows what will happen.”
Source: https://www.mmafighting.com/2023/1/31/23577623/conor-mcgregor-chickened-out-charles-oliveira-jose-aldo-rafael-dos-anjos-alex-pereira?rand=96749
