Conor McGregor has hit out at his bitter rival Khabib Nurmagomedov after he claimed UFC star Jose Aldo was beyond his "prime".
The Brazilian veteran recorded another significant victory over Rob Font at the weekend as he eyes a return to the pinnacle of the promotion in his new bantamweight division, Mirror UK reports.
Aldo now has 31 professional victories in MMA but was defeated by McGregor back in 2015 where he was chinned in just 13 seconds.
Despite his recent success, Nurmagomedov questioned Aldo's current performance levels when he said: “How is he showing it? He got beat up when he fought Petr Yan, right?
"A guy wins one fight and everyone starts talking. When Conor (McGregor) fought (Donald) ‘Cowboy’ (Cerrone), he looked like a lion. When he fights stronger opponents, he looks like a scared chicken.
"Fighting top fighters shows your worth. The level of Russia’s football team will be shown against Croatia, not Malta."
And following Aldo's latest win, McGregor said: "He should have just kept quiet about Aldo, he is a fool now."
The Brazilian star's recovery from his defeat byMcGregor began with a rematch victory over Frankie Edgar the following year.
But he then suffered two stoppage defeats by Max Holloway which dented his career progress before bouncing back with two wins.
A sour patch followed for Aldo who was beaten by current featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski before switching to 135lbs where he suffered back-to-back defeats by Marlon Moraes and Petr Yan.
However the future now looks much brighter for the 35-year-old who has strung together three consecutive victories which could see him move up to fourth position in the UFC's bantamweight rankings.
Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts
