Jose Aldo Says He Had A Spy Near Frankie Edgar, Edgar’s Team Responds

Many expected Frankie Edgar to continue his reign of terror at UFC 200. If Jose Aldo is to be believed, a spy helped him gain the upper hand against the former UFC Lightweight Champion.

“We had some spies over on his side, where he was training all week,” Aldo said during a media day in Rio de Janeiro today. “They came and told us what he was doing. So I had to hold off on the kicks and on the left hand since he was looking to counter that.”

A few members of the media thought he was joking, but Aldo said that he scoured the list of fighters that was training in the same room as Edgar, and found out who would feed him information about his opponent. Aldo went as far as to say it’s why he didn’t throw his usual number of kicks during the bout.

“Of course, there was (a spy),” Aldo said. “Why wouldn’t I kick? That’s my own instinct! We always place a spy. We send someone to watch their training and tell us, so we know what they’re training.”

Aldo said this is nothing new, but wouldn’t offer up the name of the person who helped him out. 

“Thank(fully), it always happens, man” Aldo said. “We have Brazilians in the other corners. So when I get there to train, I already look at the list of cornermen. If there’s a Brazilian on the other side, we look for him right away. We ask them to have a look there because it helps us out a lot.”

Frankie Edgar’s coach Mark Henry issued a statement to MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani about the claims of Aldo.

“I don’t care,” Mark Henry said. “I couldn’t care less. I think we should have been able to adjust anyway.”

By Sean Ross Sapp