Aldo coach: McGregor must return to featherweight for rematch

Conor McGregor had an unlikely supporter on his side heading into his second fight with Nate Diaz.

In the interest of his pupil getting a long-awaited rematch with McGregor, Jose Aldo's coach Andre Pederneiras was rooting for the Irishman to win the main event of UFC 202 this past Saturday. McGregor took a majority decision and now that the series with Diaz is even, Pederneiras wants McGregor to defend the featherweight belt that he won from Aldo last December.

"I prayed for (McGregor) to win (against Diaz)." Pederneiras said, according to Bloody Elbow's Lucas Rezende. "Now he needs to come back to his division and give Aldo the rematch.

"I don't understand why he wants another fight with Nate and doesn't want to give Aldo a new chance. I can't understand him. Now he's saying he might go to lightweight. No way, he needs to go back to featherweight and give Aldo the rematch. He earned it."

Unsurprisingly, McGregor's coach John Kavanagh disagrees. Appearing after Pederneiras on that same episode of The MMA Hour, Kavanagh said there is no reason for McGregor to ever return to 145 and that the ideal scenario is for McGregor to win the 155-pound belt from Eddie Alvarez to set up a championship trilogy bout with Diaz.

Aldo defeated Frankie Edgar in July to win the interim featherweight belt. He has already begun his campaign for another shot at McGregor.