In less than a week at UFC 200, Frankie Edgar and Jose Aldo will have their highly anticipated rematch, this time for the interim UFC featherweight championship. The fight will earn the winner a crack at UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor, who fights Nate Diaz in a highly anticipated rematch at UFC 202.
The fight will be Jose Aldo’s first since his UFC 193 knockout loss to Conor McGregor last year. While Aldo believes that the loss reignited a fire under him, Frankie Edgar believes that the loss will have a significant impact on Aldo’s mental game at UFC 200.
He spoke to Fox Sports:
“It has to mess with you. Close losses mess with you, never mind getting knocked out with one punch. Especially to a guy like Conor, who is going to relish in it the way he does and talk about it the way he does, no one’s better than him with that. I don’t want to say it was embarrassing because it can happen to anybody, but for Aldo, I think it was a little embarrassing. To be on top for so long and then have it happen like that to that guy. That’s definitely got to mess with him. I do think if I hit him with some good stuff early on, he’s going to really be questioning himself. Not only is he going to question himself from his last fight, but he’s going to question himself in the first couple of minutes of our fight. I get it done within three, hand raised. I walk home with that belt.”