Jose Aldo: “The UFC has been a mess for a while now”

Jose Aldo and the UFC have been at odds over the last several months. After being knocked out by Conor McGregor in just 13 seconds at UFC 194, Aldo hoped for an immediate rematch with the Irish superstar, in hopes of reclaiming his featherweight championship. After Conor McGregor moved up to welterweight for a fight with Nate Diaz at UFC 196, Aldo fought Frankie Edgar at UFC 200 for the interim featherweight title in a fight which saw Aldo pick up a unanimous decision win.

While Aldo hoped to have a rematch with McGregor after claiming the interim featherweight championship by defeating Edgar, McGregor opted to move up to welterweight once again for a rematch with Nate Diaz at UFC 202. McGregor won the fight via majority decision, and all signs pointed to McGregor vs. Aldo II being the next fight for UFC matchmakers to book. Instead, McGregor moved up to lightweight for a title fight with Eddie Alvarez in the main event of UFC 205. Leading up to the fight, Aldo repeatedly expressed his frustration with the UFC brass, requesting his release from the promotion due to the fact that he wouldn’t be getting a rematch with McGregor. UFC President Dana White shut down Aldo’s plans to move to another promotion, and pointed out once again that if McGregor were to emerge from UFC 205 victorious, that he must vacate one of the title belts.

Ultimately, in the wake of his UFC 205 win over Alvarez, McGregor vacated the featherweight title, Jose Aldo was promoted to the undisputed featherweight champion, and the UFC 206 main event scrap between Max Holloway & Anthony Pettis was made into an interim featherweight title fight.

During a recent interview with Combate, Aldo spoke about how he believes the UFC is a mess, saying:

“The UFC has been a mess for a while now,” Aldo said. “Not only for [myself], it’s been happening way before that. It embarrassed featherweight and now embarrasses lightweight. Khabib Nurmagomedov signed two contracts to fight for the title and still hasn’t [fought for the title]. We also have Demian Maia waiting at welterweight and Ronaldo Jacare is waiting for even longer than that [at middleweight].

“It’s cool for me, I was a dominant champion for a long time, but what about Jacare’s situation? He’s always winning and doesn’t get his title shot. They tell him he’ll fight for the title and he never does. And it seems he never will. It’s a generalized mess.’