Featherweight champion Jose Aldo has thrown a curveball by suggesting he’ll be moving up a weight rather than defend his belt next.
It had been anticipated that Aldo would fight interim featherweight champion Max Holloway at UFC 208 in Brooklyn, New York City, but the Brazilian says that’s no longer the case.
“No, the Brooklyn fight is not happening,” Aldo said in an interview with MMAfighting.com’s Ariel Helwani. “I now expect and believe I will be fighting in early March. Either March 3 or March 4, I can’t remember.”
Instead, Aldo claims he’s now going to be fighting for the interim 155lb title, with his timeline suggesting that will take place at UFC 209 in Las Vegas on March 4th.
“I believe they will soon announce an interim lightweight title fight with me. They’ve been trying to find me an opponent, and — surprise, surprise — at least one has already turned down the fight against me. I’m waiting to see who they will find.
“They’ve asked me not to say anything. I won’t say who it is because it’s a surprise. A guy we never thought would turn it down turned it down, because his father didn’t think it was good. I’m tired of people turning down fights. I want to put some pressure so they’ll take the fight.”
By the sounds of things Aldo is referring to UFC lightweight No.1 contender Khabib Nurmagomedov, whose father has played a significant role in the Russian star’s career so far.
If so, that would mean that Aldo could well end up facing the No.2 contender Tony Ferguson, who many had anticipated would be fighting Nurmagomedov next to establish the next No.1 contender.
Muddying the waters even further is the fact that lightweight champion Conor McGregor just stated a few days ago that he might not be out of action for 10 months after all and could return sometime after Christmas.
If so, that could explain why Nurmagomedov doesn’t want to sign up to fight Aldo instead, while it would also make the idea of fighting for an interim title even more pointless than it already is.
It would be also interesting to find out what this means for Max Holloway, who has now racked up a record ten wins without getting a title shot at 145lbs.
