Coach reveals Jose Aldo was injured prior to UFC 212

At UFC 212 recently, UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo looked to defend his featherweight title for the first time since being promoted to the undisputed champion once again. While the champ found success in the opening round, it was the challenger, Max Holloway, who picked up momentum as the fight continued.

Ultimately, in the third round, Aldo was dropped by a big right hand from Holloway, and was TKO’d, losing the featherweight title to Max Holloway. Now, following the fight, Aldo’s head coach, Andre Pederneiras answers the question that ran through the minds of many MMA fans during UFC 212: ‘Why didn’t Aldo kick more?’

He spoke to Fox Fight Club:

“Every fight the athlete enters he has some kind of injury, and Aldo is no different, he has his,” Pederneiras told Fox Fight Club. “Many people asked why he didn’t kicked. Aldo has a leg injury, so he couldn’t throw kicks or run during his entire camp.

“That doesn’t take anything away from Max Holloway’s win, we don’t want to say that,” he continued. “It was even funny because we would go back (outside the Octagon) between rounds the crowd said ‘tell him to kick,’ but we, the cornermen, were the only aware of it. We avoided the kicks because of this injury. We were afraid it would strain his muscle.”

“He spent his entire camp working on his boxing and his takedown, his ground game,” Pederneiras said. “Since Aldo felt well standing in the first rounds, he decided not to go for takedowns, but (Holloway’s) punch landed and everything changed.

Pederneiras went on to reveal that Jose Aldo currently has a neck injury as well, but that the UFC is currently seeking the former champ’s next opponent. That opponent could very well be Cub Swanson, who Aldo last fought in the WEC.

on 6/13/2017.