Yahoo Sports Jose Aldo Meeting with UFC Brass: ‘They Can't Force Me to Fight'
Jose Aldo, who publicly asked the UFC to release him from his contract, said on Wednesday that he is headed to Las Vegas to meet with UFC brass to “solve” his situation.
Aldo spoke with the media in Rio de Janeiro Wednesday morning, saying that he, his manager, and his lawyer, would fly to Las Vegas on Oct. 19 to meet with UFC officials.
“We have a meeting scheduled to solve everything, but everything has been said already. We will see what happens in this meeting,” said Aldo, according to a report by MMAFighting.com's Guilherme Cruz.
“(Dana White) can offer me anything,” Aldo continued. “I started to get unmotivated back then, when I lost the belt. I was the champion for so long, I had the right to get an immediate rematch and they didn’t give it to me, and I wanted to walk in a different direction, but ‘Dede’ (Andre Pederneiras, Aldo's coach and manager) made me fight again. I went there, fought and won, and again (the rematch) didn’t come. I have no desire to fight again. I don’t have any excitement to fight anymore. I have other projects in my life. I wanted to retire as champion and I’m the champion today. I want to follow another path.”
Aldo refers to the interim UFC featherweight championship, which he won when he defeated Frankie Edgar at UFC 200. Conor McGregor, who took the belt from Aldo in December of 2015, has yet to fight again in that division. He has since faced Nate Diaz two times, and is now slated to challenge lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez in the UFC 205 main event on Nov. 12 in New York City.
TRENDING > Conor McGregor Levied Substantial Penalties for Bottle-Throwing Melee
Although Pederneiras has tried to convince him to continue fighting, Aldo is adamant that he has lost the desire, particularly with the turn the UFC has taken towards more high-profile “money fights” instead of more sporting match-ups.
“It’s not like I want to retire, I’m too young and still have a lot left, but I have no desire to fight. And I have no interest in going to another organization. I won’t leave the biggest league to fight in a small one. If I’m not in the UFC, I’m not fighting anywhere else,” he said.
“If they release me, that would be great, but if not, what can we do? I have other projects and that depends on this meeting we’re having with them. If I want to retire, no contract can stop me… they can’t force me to fight.”
Aldo doesn't simply want to retire, which is within his right to do, even if he is under contract. He wants out of his UFC contract, not because he wants to fight elsewhere, according to him, but because his contract is too oppressive for him to pursue his other projects with the UFC having a hand in it.
“They have the rights for everything, even my breath. How can’t they? I can’t even breathe outside the UFC,” said Aldo.
“If one day I think about coming back, I’d come back to the UFC. That’s where I came from and where I deserve to be, but I have other projects.”
