Interim featherweight champion Jose Aldo has publicly stated that he wants released from his UFC contract after learning that his biggest rival Conor McGregor will fight for the lightweight title against Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205, while still retaining his 145lb title.
“”We waited until Dana (White) publicly said that he wanted this fight with McGregor to happen,” Aldo told the Combate site last night. “And then we expected it to happen. I’d get my rematch to unify the featherweight belts, or I’d have my belt back and fight Holloway or Pettis, since Dana said all the time that Conor couldn’t keep both belts.”
“But, to my surprise, I heard last night about the fight between McGregor and Eddie Alvarez, which was also denied by Dana last week. And to make it worse, he would keep the featherweight belt, and possibly having two belts at the same time.”
That appears to be the final straw for Aldo, who feels that Dana White is no longer in control, and that it’s McGregor who is calling all the shots.
“Conor himself said before that he wouldn’t give his belt away by any chance and nobody would take it away from him. After all this, I see I can’t trust any word from president Dana White, and who’s in charge of the promotion now is Conor McGregor. Since I’m not here to be an employee of McGregor, today I ask to cancel my contract with the UFC.
“When they offered me a fight with Frankie Edgar, Dana said that the winner would challenge McGregor or win the linear title, that he would lose his belt if he didn’t return to the featherweight division after his rematch with Nate Diaz. After being fooled so many times, I don’t feel motivated to fight in the UFC anymore.”
It’s hard to argue that McGregor seems to be winning the internal power struggle at the moment as White had previously indicated that McGregor would have to either defend his belt next, or vacate the title, yet at last night’s UFC 205 presser he indicated that they’d await the result of ‘The Notorious’ Irishman’s fight with Alvarez before making a final decision on the fate of his featherweight title.
At the same presser however, McGregor made it perfectly clear that he had no intention of giving up the belt, and planned on being a simultaneous two-division champion.
“I’m going to wrap one on one shoulder and I’m going to wrap the other on the other shoulder and they’re going to need a f***ing army to come take them belts off me,” McGregor stated.
After hearing news that Aldo wants out of his contract, White told Combate in a separate interview that he’d look to smooth things over with the Brazilian star, but by the sounds of things, ‘Scarface’ isn’t interested in what he has to say, and has now gone one step further by revealing that he wants to retire.
“If (Dana) likes me and my family, I just hope he released me. I don’t want a fight. I want to leave as I came in,” Aldo said in a follow-up statement. “The UFC and WEC didn’t give me anything. Everything I conquered was my merit and from my team. Nobody gave me anything. I conquered everything. And I gave them a lot more than they gave me back. I just want them to release me from my contract. I’m not a whore to sell myself (for money).
“I don’t even want to fight MMA. I want to follow a career in another sport. That’s what I want.”
