Let $G$ be a graph with adjacency matrix $A(G)$ and let $D(G)$ be the diagonal matrix of the degrees of $G$. For any real $α\in [0,1]$, Nikiforov [Merging the $A$- and $Q$-spectral theories, Appl. Anal. Discrete Math. 11 (2017) 81--107] defined the matrix $A_α(G)$ as $A_α(G)=αD(G)+(1-α)A(G).$ Let $u$ and $v$ be two vertices of a connected graph $G$. Suppose that $u$ and $v$ are connected by a path $w_0(=v)w_1\cdots w_{s-1}w_s(=u)$ where $d(w_i)=2$ for $1\leq i\leq s-1$. Let $G_{p,s,q}(u,v)$ be the graph obtained by attaching the paths $P_p$ to $u$ and $P_q$ to $v$. Let $s=0,1$. Nikiforov and Rojo [On the $α$-index of graphs with pendent paths, Linear Algebra Appl. 550 (2018) 87--104] conjectured that $ρ_α(G_{p,s,q}(u,v))<ρ_α(G_{p-1,s,q+1}(u,v))$ if $p\geq q+2.$ In this paper, we confirm the conjecture. As applications, firstly, the extremal graph with maximal $A_α$-spectral radius with fixed order and cut vertices is characterized. Secondly, we characterize the extremal tree which attains the maximal $A_α$-spectral radius with fixed order and matching number. These results generalize some known results.