Tuesday's shoving match between Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes was a lot tamer than that of Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier. But now the UFC featherweight champion is admitting that the whole thing was premeditated as a way to draw attention to the upcoming Oct. 25 fight.
"We were talking to Andre (Pederneiras) in a meeting about how we could improve our fight promotions," Aldo said to local media in Sao Paolo during a UFC 179 media day. "It's part of the show. But I told Andre after (the staredown) that it's not my style."
Aldo claims that though it was premeditated, it was not staged. So it's safe to say that Mendes was unaware Aldo would shove his chest during the staredown.
"It was not staged, we were talking (trash) to each other and it happened," Aldo said. "We (Aldo and Pederneiras) tried to spice things up, but that's it."
Though Aldo has been one of the most dominant champions for quite some time, he isn't a big pay-per-view draw. He has never been the type of fighter to promote a fight with trash-talk or pre-fight brawls, so it was surprising to see his emotions run so high on Tuesday. But now that he's revealed it was all a ploy, it can be expected that he won't shove another opponent again.
"I've never pushed anyone during a staredown before," he said. "I should behave better. I'm not saying I regret it. We did it, it was good. There was a good thing about it that people are now talking about it, but it's not who I am. It won't happen again."
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