The amalgamation of social media and modern-day mixed martial arts sees MMA fighters—even celebrities—act quick to kick the more famous (or infamous) MMA losers while they’re briefly down. It happened to Ronda Rousey. It also happened to Sage Northcutt.
Saturday night was no different. Conor McGregor’s valiant efforts against Nate Diaz and his humbled post-fight canter wasn’t enough to spare him of a verbal lashing from former Brazilian foe Jose Aldo.
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Still smarting from his 13-second knockout loss to McGregor back at UFC 194 in December, Aldo quickly jumped at the chance to lambast the Irishman for his performance against latecomer Diaz.
Aldo’s tweet was an intelligent move to help his cause in earning a big-money rematch, a match-up which is rumoured to be a leading candidate for McGregor’s next outing at UFC 200. The first fight was built on the back off some great back-and-forth between Aldo and McGregor, though it was always clear who the natural talker is out of the pair. Upon hearing about Aldo’s tweet ahead of his post-fight presser, McGregor responded in kind by labelling Aldo a “loser” for celebrating another man’s loss.
However, Aldo hasn’t stopped with talking to the press about McGregor since Saturday night. But, this time, the trash talk leaves a lot to be desired.
Talking to Brazilian sports broadcaster SporTV, Aldo said: “I don’t really care. I didn’t celebrate when he lost. It means nothing to me: they are two fighters constantly cursing at each other. People cheered, I’m happy for that. I think it was a moment of joy for Brazilians. He was slapped in the face. He looked like a kid getting slapped.
“Some fighters have a lot of power, others don’t. He has soap hands. Of course anybody will go down with a punch to the chin – even if a little kid hits you. He has soap hands. He is always punching and nobody ever felt his punches.”
This was after Aldo claimed to have been watching pornography instead of McGregor vs. Diaz. Now, I can’t be certain there’s some sort of cultural dissonance here which prevents me from knowing exactly what Aldo is getting at. But, soap hands? Bars of soap for hands.
Both Mark Munoz and Tim Kennedy used the fantastic terminology of “pillow fists” when discussing Michael Bisping’s punching power—or lack of—conjuring up the entertaining imagery of Bisping throwing oversized cushions for hands with each blow. But, bars of soap? It doesn’t really have the same clout behind it.
Then there’s the fact McGregor knocked Aldo out—or starched Aldo if you want to keep up with the soap/detergent theme—with consummate ease before fifteen seconds of that fight had elapsed. If McGregor’s punches are so soft—Dove soap soft—then what does that make your aptitude to absorb such a supposedly soft blow? This is trash talk that borders on self-defeatism.
McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh appears to want the rematch to come to fruition in time for UFC 200 at Las Vegas’ new T-Mobile Arena later in the summer. Talking to Ariel Helwani on the MMA Hour, Kavanagh said of his preference for his student’s next fight: “Me personally, maybe the Aldo rematch, I’d like to see that again. I just think the first one was great for us, but it was a little bit unfulfilling. I think Aldo has a fantastic set of skills, he was a great champion and I didn’t think that quite closed the chapter on that. So, let’s see a proper fight.”
It does appear that all signs point to Aldo as the next challenge. Aldo’s trash talk, though bizarre, will surely help push that through. While McGregor more than earned his shot against Aldo with his in-cage exploits, his verbal campaign for the fight and incessant trash talk forced the match-up to happen and it subsequently built the fight. The previously quiet Aldo may have a lot to learn in the shit talking stakes, but at least the pre-fight preamble has already begun—just minutes after McGregor’s defeat to Diaz on Saturday night.
