Ultimate Fighting Champion reigning featherweight champion Jose Aldo and his corner does not mind the trash talking and bravado of rival Conor McGregor. In fact, Aldo’s coach Andre Pederneiras believes that the strategy of the Dubliner to be noticed is paying dividends for the sports and compared “The Notorious” to a “leprechaun with a pot of gold.”

However, the Brazilian coach did not take too kindly to the trash talking of the “The Notorious,” saying that the constant brash attitude of his ward’s upcoming opponent will only motivate Aldo to push himself some more and thoroughly beat McGregor. He quipped that McGregor’s turn to take a crack at Aldo is timely, given that the champion has faced everyone in his division, and the Irishman is the last challenge left.

“An opponent talking bad things about you always motivates you to beat him up, and Conor does it perfectly,” Pederneiras recently told MMA Fighting. “The more McGregor talks, the more he will get beat up. It’s fine by me if he talks, we think most of the things he says are funny.”

The UFC is staging the next big anticipated fight between McGregor and Aldo at UFC 198 on July 11 at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight has not been bereft of colour as McGregor has brought the publicity from the get-go, charging towards Aldo after his win over Dennis Siver at UFC Fight Night in Boston way back in January.

Since then, the 27-year-old Dubliner has hogged the headlines and the controversy, from his naming the featherweight division as his namesake, to grabbing the neck of the champion in Toronto and to snatching the belt from Aldo during the last leg of the world tour in Brazil. Both men have vowed to dominate each other in the upcoming match, with Aldo dismissing McGregor’s antics as purely for entertainment and without any intimidation factor.

McGregor’s record has been spotless since his transition to the UFC, with his last loss only coming from the hands of his countryman Joseph Duffy. Nevertheless, his last two losses, which both came through submissions, hint a possible hole in his defence, particularly the way he handles submission attempts. It is unclear if Aldo will exploit that strategy or go into the full-out brawl that the Irishman has hinted to the fans when the date of their Octagon soiree comes in July.

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