Aldo reveals he cried after McGregor KO because a rematch was snatched away, not from the loss itself

Jose Aldo has revealed that the moment Dana White told him Conor McGregor would not grant him a rematch — not the 13-second knockout loss itself — was what reduced him to tears after UFC 194 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas in December 2015.

Speaking to Mundo da Luta, the former UFC featherweight champion said he had fully expected an immediate second fight after suffering the fastest finish in a UFC title bout at the time. White informed him backstage, however, that McGregor planned to move up to lightweight because cutting to the 145-pound limit had become too difficult.

“I cried a lot because, in my mind, after I lost, I thought, ‘F**k, there’s going to be a rematch because I was a dominant champion,’” Aldo said. “Up until that point, I was the first and only featherweight champion in history. So, in my mind, I thought, ‘There’s going to be a rematch, I’m going to fight him again, and it’s going to be a whole new story.’”

“Everyone thinks I was crying because I lost. No, I was crying because I knew we weren’t going to fight again. There was no way for me to get that win back, you know?”

Aldo continued to push publicly for a rematch in the years that followed, but the two never shared the octagon again. He recovered to win the interim featherweight title in July 2016 and was elevated to undisputed champion that November before eventually moving down to bantamweight.

Despite the unresolved rivalry, Aldo says his relationship with McGregor has softened over time. He has publicly expressed support for the Irishman’s recovery from a recent knee injury, hoping his former rival can return to competition.