The feud between Jose Aldo and Dana White has taken another dramatic turn and now it seems that lawyers might have to be brought in, in order to sort things out.
Aldo has waited nearly a year for his rematch with Conor McGregor after losing to him at UFC 194. He won the interim title by defeating Frankie Edgar at UFC 200, which guaranteed him a title shot at McGregor.
Dana White also went on record, stating that McGregor would be required to return to featherweight after his rematch with Nate Diaz at UFC 202, otherwise he would have to vacate the belt – making Jose Aldo the undisputed champion.
But in the moments after the UFC 205 main event was announced, White backtracked, stating that McGregor would not be stripped of his featherweight title. Rather, he’d have the option to vacate one title of his choosing after the fight with Alvarez (assuming he won, of course).
In a shocking move that White clearly didn’t see coming, Aldo told Combate TV that he has had enough of the UFC and requested that they cancel his contract.
“I heard about everything that happened, through my coach.
“He had spoken with [UFC matchmaker] Sean Shelby Saturday and Sean still had no answer about anything, and asked if I could fight on November 12. My coach said that if it would be Conor, yes, and then Sean asked him if I would fight Max Holloway or Anthony Pettis. ‘Dede’ [Pederneiras] said that for those who I’d rather do a full camp and it could be on December 10.
“We waited until Dana publicly said that he wanted this fight with McGregor to happen. 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 [White] 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.
“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.
“After being fooled so many times, I don’t feel motivated to fight in the UFC anymore.”
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When he learned the news about Aldo’s request, Dana White spoke with Combate TV and said that he would phone Aldo to offer a solution.
“We won’t cancel his contract,” he stated. “We know he got very emotional. We respect Jose Aldo very much. We care for the people around him.
“Khabib [Nurmagomedov] wanted a fight on the card and we got it for him. I’m sure we can find something nice for Jose, as well.”
Upon hearing White’s response, Aldo upped the ante even further, claiming that he was done with MMA altogether and would instead pursue a career in a different sport.
“Not even fight MMA, too. It has reached a limit now. I talked to ‘Dede’ a long time ago and he convinced me to continue. I went to the Frankie Edgar fight and won. I fought to win for ‘Dede’. I’m not angry or upset now, nothing. I never fought for money, I had a good career and legacy as featherweight champion.
“If [White] 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. 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. I don’t even want to fight MMA. I want to follow a career in another sport. That’s what I want.
And now Aldo’s long time coach and manager, Andre Pederneiras, has added a truckload of petrol to an already raging fire by stating that they are willing to go to court in order to secure the Brazilian’s release from his contract, which still has six fights left on it.
“I think Dana and the new owners have to understand that there’s a completely unsatisfied employee who doesn’t want to continue,” Pederneiras said (translation by MMAFighting). “If that was in Brazil and a guy said ‘boss, I want to leave,’ I’d say ‘OK, I can’t hold you.’ The contract we have in the UFC, ‘boss, I want to leave,’ the answer is ‘no, you’ll be stuck with me, you might not do anything, but you can’t leave here.’ Is that something nice?
“I think it creates dissatisfaction, and he will want to go to court. He would have to go to court to cut this contract. And the damage a dissatisfied person, someone like Aldo, talking (expletive) to everyone about a lot of things, I think the company wouldn’t want a guy like this every day in the media talking trash.”
“We don’t want a war, we don’t want a fight, we don’t want to talk bad about anyone. We only want the right to say ‘I don’t want to be here anymore. It’s not about money, I don’t want to be here anymore.’
“He was already pissed off with the situation of being left aside without an answer. You can’t do that with someone like Aldo. You can do that to someone who just entered the UFC now, but not with a guy that went undefeated for 10 years, not with a guy that was the first and only champion until he lost the belt in a 13-second situation, and earned his rematch, was fooled and it didn’t happen.”
Is there any way back after all this? Or has Aldo’s illustrious career with the UFC come to an acrimonious end? It would be a sad way for one of the best ever to bow out but it seems unlikely that he will fight on after everything that has been said over these last few days.
The post The Plot Thickens In Jose Aldo Vs Dana White Saga appeared first on Craziest Sports Fights.