Jose Aldo Threatens to ‘Smother’ Max Holloway After His Injury Jabs

When Max Holloway stepped into the cage with former featherweight king Jose Aldo for the first time, he took Aldo out in the third round. Something was missing though, which caused a lot of people to ask, ‘What if?’ Absent were the infamous and thundering leg kicks from the previous champ. It is one of Aldo’s most dangerous weapons, but he wasn’t able to implement them coming into the fight with Holloway due to a leg injury. After Max Holloway spoke up about it recently, Jose Aldo breaks his silence on the matter and vows he’s in perfect condition.

“I don’t think there was any cowardice. Every time I’m in there that’s the best Aldo possible. [Max] Holloway was a great fighter that night and was able to win. He deserved it. There’s no excuse. ‘Dede’ [Pederneiras] talked about [my leg injury] because it happened in training, but if I’m in there, that’s the best Aldo available. There’s no excuse. He won because he deserved to win. I’m in perfect condition. There are always small injuries, but nothing that takes any weapon away. I’m kicking, punching, I’m dong everything now. There are no serious injuries. You can expect the best kickboxing, the best muay thai.”

It is what it is pic.twitter.com/LmtqCmkWec

— Max Holloway (@BlessedMMA) November 12, 2017

“I will walk forward the entire time. I want to kick a lot in this fight. I want to put my hands as well, everything I learned recently, I want to go in there and do it. I’ll smother [Max Holloway] from beginning to the end, and he will have to worry about his defense. I always saw the attack as the best defense, so I was holding myself back, thinking ‘he has this strong point,’ and that harmed me. Not anymore. I want to go in there and be myself, be who I always were. That’s what I want. If you fight all the time you can lose one day, so [the loss at UFC 212] is not stuck in my throat. The belt is no longer with me, so that makes me more motivated to train and get it back. Holloway is just another one that I will win.” — Jose Aldo speaking to the media at Nova Uniao’s gym.

The way that Jose Aldo is talking sounds like old school, vicious Jose Aldo. We’re talking WEC-era Aldo here. In the rare occasion that a fighter gets an immediate rematch, Frankie Edgar forced out of the fight at UFC 218 has granted Aldo another chance. The former champ offered no excuses for his loss at UFC 212 even though his fans have, we’ll get to definitively settle the score in just two weeks.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 11/21/2017.