Jose Aldo: Khabib Nurmagomedov ‘Talks Too Much’

Former UFC champion Jose Aldo had some choice words for Khabib Nurmagomedov recently.

First, a little back story.

After being asked about Aldo’s wins over Pedro Munhoz and Marlon Vera, Nurmagomedov was asked his thoughts.

“Let him fight Petr (Yan) the same way,” Nurmagomedov said (thanks to MMA Fighting for the quotes). “A guy wins one fight and everyone starts talking.

“You saw what he did (vs. Yan). He closed up and waited for the ref to stop the fight. That shows you’re not at your peak. If you’re getting hit and you’re conscious and you’re not defending, I call those fighters businessmen. 

“They come out to make money.”

Aldo, a former champion in the UFC, didn’t take to kindly to that.

“He’s saying you can’t peak again, but we just saw Glover (Teixeira),” Aldo said. “Sometimes Khabib talks too much.

“He’s not doing much these days, he’s retired, so he’s looking for (attention) that way.”

The history between these two days back a few years.

In 2016, Aldo was offered an interim lightweight title fight with Nurmagomedov, he claims. But the bout was turned down by Nurmagomedov’s father.

“I was traveling,” Aldo said. “The (UFC) offered me this fight and we took it. I was the featherweight champion and (Nurmagomedov) didn’t think it was a good (idea).

“I don’t know if he was expecting to fight someone else. I don’t know what he was thinking at the time. I think it could have been a great fight.”

Could you imagine the draw and interest if Aldo and Khabib had been paired up years ago? Is this something you would still be interested in seeing come to fruition?