UFC News: Jose Aldo says he knew that Conor McGregor would relinquish his belt; wants rematch
Jose Aldo is once again the undisputed UFC Featherweight Champion, and he wants to avenge his loss against Conor McGregor.
This past Saturday, UFC announced that the brief two-division champ ‘Notorious’ Conor McGregor had vacated his Featherweight Title in favour of his 155-pound belt, opening the back door for Aldo to climb from the position of interim titleholder to Primary Champion.
McGregor won the 145-pound belt after beating Aldo at UFC 194 in just 13 seconds, but did not defend his title, instead opting for a couple of Welterweight fights against Nate Diaz, before challenging Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 for the Welterweight Title.
In the meantime, Jose Aldo defeated Frankie Edgar for the interim Featherweight Title at UFC 200 in July and waited patiently for his rematch with McGregor. The Brazilian now intends on defending his title against the winner of next month’s interim title bout, when Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis face off at UFC 206.
Speaking to SporTV channel’s Planeta, Aldo said,
“It was a fact that this was going to happen. We knew (McGregor) was going to relinquish the belt – obviously, either mine or the lightweight one. I think both are very tough fights for him, either at lightweight with Khabib (Nurmagomedov) or a rematch with me. So he chose to let go off mine. It’s no problem. Of course, first I want to do a (title) defense and then, yes, I will want to pursue a fight with (McGregor).”
UFC President Dana White had indicated McGregor could not hold two UFC titles at once and would have to give one up. McGregor earlier said he would not abide but has still not commented publicly on the situation.
After recent developments Aldo seems to have turned a corner with the UFC, shelving his earlier talks of retirement, and now claims that he always felt he was the champion.
“I think I’ve always been the champion, and I will always be the champion,” he said.
“As long as I’m at featherweight, no matter what happens, I’ll keep being the champion. So this, for me, was something that was already certain. The minute I lost, I knew, the next day, the belt would be mine again. It was just a matter of time. Of course, (it was) not the way I wanted, but I’m happy because I know I’m the champion,” he added.
Aldo then went on to indicate that he’s back in the driver’s seat now that he is the champion again:
“Since Dana said that we can choose who we want to fight, I want to fight (McGregor). “That’s what’s going to happen.”
With regards to his return to action, he is aiming for February or March,
“I’d been training, even with everything that’s been happening. I’ve been training and helping out my friends here (at Nova Uniao). And now we’re already making the arrangements to fight in the future. I think maybe in February or March we’ll be fighting hopefully. I don’t want to wait too long because it’s been a while since my last fight. I don’t want to go too long without fighting,” he said.
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