Jose Aldo’s coach: UFC will not let him retire to pursue other endeavors

It sounds like UFC interim featherweight champion Jose Aldo will continue fighting for the UFC despite his wishes to retire and be released from his UFC contract.

Nova Uniao head coach Andre Pederneiras told Combate on Tuesday that even after Aldo’s meeting with UFC brass, his wishes to retire in order to pursue new endeavors were not granted by the company he has a signed contract with.

“Right now we have this Pettis vs. Holloway fight, and there’s Conor’s decision, too,” Pederneiras said (as translated by Bloody Elbow) “We can only know what’s going to happen after that. Aldo wants to retire in order to do other things, but in these talks we had with the UFC, it became quite clear that they will not let him go to pursue that. There’s no choice but to fight. It’ll depend on the outcomes of these two fights. Pettis vs. Holloway and Conor vs. Alvarez. I don’t know what Conor will decide, but I believe February or March would be a good date to face him. They are fighting now, so there would be a good three, four month break.”

Aldo stated his wish to retire after it was announced that UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor would be facing UFC lightweight champion at UFC 205 in New York on November 12 while still maintaining the status of champion of the 145 division. This will be McGregor’s third fight outside of the UFC featherweight division since he won the belt from Aldo at UFC 194 back in December of 2015.

As far as the fans who aren’t ready to see Jose Aldo step away from the UFC competition, it is good news for them. However, if Aldo’s heart and desire to fight are fading and reflect in his performance in the Octagon, it won’t be a good thing for him or his fans.

Who would you like to see Jose Aldo fight early in 2017? Sound off in the comment section!