This Brazilian’s not for turning.
This is the current state of play in the UFC’s featherweight division:
Champion Conor McGregor won the belt in December 2015, but it does not look like he will defend it until Spring 2017 at the earliest, as says the UFC will need ‘a fucking army’ to get the belt off him if he wins the lightweight belt at UFC 205.
Interim champion Jose Aldo has met with UFC president Dana White and told him, face-to-face, that he wants to retire.
The next two contenders are a disgruntled Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis, who lost three lightweight fights in a row before stepping down to the 145 lb division.
Who else is there? Well, this guy.
“Who the fuck is that guy?”
Aldo meets the UFC brass
Aldo was accompanied by his long-time trainer André Pederneiras for a meeting with White and UFC match-maker Sean Shelby.
He told the pair, to their face, what he had told Brazilian media – he has lost his desire for mixed martial arts and the UFC, in its current, star-power guise. He wants to retire but is tied to the promotion for six more fights. After the meeting, Aldo told Combate:
“My mind is made up. I don’t have anything else to think about. I don’t have to think or do anything. I always had the [retirement] idea set. When I say something, it’s never a bluff.”
Aldo claimed the interim strap at UFC 200 and was told he would get McGregor next. All the while, The Notorious has fought twice at welterweight, is challenging Eddie Alvarez at lightweight and has promised a ‘the shit is going to hit the fan’ with a left-field announcement after UFC 205.
Pederneiras said Aldo felt “tricked” by White in agreeing to fight Edgar at UFC 200 on the proviso he would get McGregor next. Seeing the Dubliner calling the shots while he waits over a year for a rematch he felt he should have been immediately granted has disheartened him greatly.
With Aldo’s mind seemingly set and McGregor off challenging for straps at other weights, it leaves the featherweight division in an awful state.
The UFC’s next move, to keep it moving, would seem to pit Holloway against Pettis but will there be gold on the line? No-one seems to know.
