Jose Aldo Requests Release From UFC, Wants To Retire From MMA

Shortly after getting wind that his rival Conor McGregor, the man who took his decade of dominance at 145 pounds away in 13 seconds, will be taking on Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 for the 155-pound title instead of fighting Aldo to unify their featherweight titles; former UFC featherweight kingpin Jose Aldo is calling for his release from the UFC and is contemplating retirement from the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA).

Aldo recently spoke to Brazilian news outlet Combate to reveal that he was offered a fight at UFC 205, however, it wasn’t to take on McGregor for the 145-pound title:

“I heard about everything that happened through my coach,” Aldo said. “He had spoken with [UFC matchmaker] Sean Shelby Saturday and Sean still had no answer about anything, and asked if I could fight on November 12. My coach said that if it would be Conor, yes, and then Sean asked him if I would fight Max Holloway or Anthony Pettis.

‘Dede’ [Pederneiras] said that for those who I’d rather do a full camp and it could be on December 10. We waited until Dana publicly said that he wanted this fight with McGregor to happen. And then we expected it to happen: I’d get my rematch to unify the featherweight belts, or I’d have my belt back and fight Holloway or Pettis, since Dana [White] said all the time that Conor couldn’t keep both belts.

But, to my surprise, I heard last night about the fight between McGregor and Eddie Alvarez, which was also denied by Dana last week. And to make it worse, he would keep the featherweight belt, and possibly having two belts at the same time.”

Because UFC President Dana White failed to stick to his guns and strip ‘The Notorious One’ of the 145-pound strap he has yet to defend, Aldo no longer has trust in White’s words and has requested to be released from his UFC contract:

“Conor himself said before that he wouldn’t give his belt away by any chance and nobody would take it away from him,” Aldo said. “After all this, I see I can’t trust any word from president Dana White, and who’s in charge of the promotion now is Conor McGregor.

Since I’m not here to be an employee of McGregor, today I ask to cancel my contract with the UFC. When they offered me a fight with Frankie Edgar, Dana said that the winner would challenge McGregor or win the linear title, that he would lose his belt if he didn’t return to the featherweight division after his rematch with Nate Diaz.

After being fooled so many times, I don’t feel motivated to fight in the UFC anymore.”

Although White has this time come out and said that McGregor will have to drop one title if he emerges victorious over Alvarez in New York City on November 12th, Aldo claims he isn’t buying it and that the promotion is turning into a circus:

“I don’t believe in Dana saying that Conor would have to vacate one of the belts after UFC 205 because, based on what we’re seeing, this type of decision is not in his hands anymore, Conor makes the calls now,” Aldo said.

“And the biggest proof that who’s in charge in the UFC now is Conor is that when I wanted to move up to fight Pettis, they said I’d have to vacate my belt and try this fight with no title whatsoever. But with him, they let him move up to the division above without losing his belt, and also let him do any fight he wants.

I understand that he sells a lot, but it gets to a limit when it’s no longer a sport, it becomes a circus. I don’t want any type of fight with the UFC. The only thing I want is to go on with my life, and they will go on with theirs.”

According to MMA Fighting, White spoke to Combate TV following the UFC 205 press conference earlier today (September 27, 2016) and stated that he will be talking to Aldo soon to try and smooth things over.

Aldo was then quick to call the TV station and insists that the only solution would be to release him from his contract with the UFC, as he is ready to retire from the sport of MMA altogether:

“Not even fight MMA, too. It has reached a limit now,” Aldo told Revista Combate. “I talked to ‘Dede’ a long time ago and he convinced me to continue. I went to the Frankie Edgar fight and won. I fought to win for ‘Dede’. I’m not angry or upset now, nothing. I never fought for money, I had a good career and legacy as featherweight champion.

“If [White] likes me and my family, I just hope he released me. I don’t want a fight. I want to leave as I came in. The UFC and WEC didn’t give me anything. Everything I conquered was my merit and from my team. Nobody gave me anything. I conquered everything. And I gave them a lot more than they gave me back. I just want them to release me from my contract. I’m not a whore to sell myself [for money].

“I don’t even want to fight MMA. I want to follow a career in another sport. That’s what I want.”

We’ll keep you updated on Aldo’s status with the UFC as we learn more…..