Jose Aldo must wait a bit longer to get a chance for a rematch against Conor McGregor.
That is, if he still wants to stay in the UFC.
The interim featherweight champion requested his release from the UFC after Dana White, the organization’s president, announced McGregor will headline UFC 205 in a lightweight championship bout against Eddie Alvarez rather than trying to unify the 145-pound belt against Aldo.
To add more salt to the wounds for Aldo, White also said McGregor will not be forced to relinquish his featherweight belt.
“After all this, I see I can’t trust any word from president Dana White,” Aldo told MMAFighting.com. “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.”
Aldo doubled down on his threat after the UFC 205 presser when his trainer, Andre Pederneiras, told MMAFighting.com that the interim champ is willing to go to court in order to leave the UFC. Aldo also told Brazilian website Combate that he wants to pursue a career in another sport.
McGregor has held the featherweight belt since knocking out Aldo in just 13 seconds at UFC 194 last December. After Aldo won the interim belt at UFC 200 by defeating Frankie Edgar, he expected to finally get the rematch he wanted against McGregor. But instead, McGregor will have a third consecutive fight outside of the featherweight class, leaving the 145-pound division at a halt for nearly 11 months.
“Conor makes the calls now,” Aldo told MMAFighting.com. “They let him move up to the division above without losing his belt, and also let him do any fight he wants. I understand that he sells a lot, but it gets to a limit when it’s no longer a sport, it becomes a circus.”
Thumbnail photo via Joshua Dahl/USA TODAY Sports Images
