While UFC has many fighters on their roster that aren’t exactly shy in speaking their mind, one fighter in particular — UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo — never seems to have a problem disagreeing with, or speaking out against the man who signs his paychecks — UFC President Dana White. When Aldo spoke to members of the Brazilian media this past weekend, that trend continued.
Aldo was heavily criticized, perhaps rightfully so, by White for not wearing body padding to protect himself while sparring in the build up to what would have been Aldo’s most financially lucrative fight to date.
According to Aldo, however, that is commonplace at Team Nova Uniao in Brazil.
Back in July, White spoke out against Aldo’s decision not to protect himself better while training for the biggest fight of his career, comments that apparently still don’t sit well with the longest-reigning, active champion in the UFC.
“The stone ages and the training has to change,” White told The Jim Rome Show back in July, just days before the highly-anticipated Aldo vs. Conor McGregor fight was scheduled. “If you’re gonna be throwing those type of kicks at the world champion two weeks before the biggest fight of his life, he should at least have rib protectors on or body pads or something so that this doesn’t happen.”
As it turns out, White was right, as a rib injury forced Aldo to withdrawl from the bout on extremely short notice, leaving UFC to scramble to find a suitable replacement that would be willing to step in, with almost no pre-fight preparation, for what was promoted as the biggest fight in company history, and certainly one where UFC spent the most money on advertising a show.
This past weekend in his home country of Brazil, Aldo addressed these issues with members of the Brazilian media, who were in attendance for UFC 190, an event that ended up achieving even more financial success than UFC 189, despite the fact that none of the three Brazilian UFC champions were on the card.
It was at this point that Aldo made a comment that turned a lot of heads, as in most cases, when a fighter becomes an “interim” champion in the UFC, the “real” champion generally refers to the “interim” champion as a “fake champion” or a “paper champion.”
Not Aldo.
Continue reading this interview on page two …
