Five Reasons Jose Aldo Needs To Shut Up & Fight

In the three days since Nate Diaz’ shocking defeat of Conor McGregor in the main event of last Saturday night’s (March 5, 2016) UFC 196 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, former McGregor rival and longtime featherweight champion Jose Aldo has been especially vocal in both his criticism of ‘The Notorious’ and his desire for a rematch with his hated enemy.

Common sense may dictate that after the Irishman knocked him out in 13 seconds at UFC 194, he might not deserve it, but Aldo certainly has a much more convincing and complete body of work than some of the contenders who have gotten immediate championship rematches lately. Now that McGregor has suffered his first UFC loss and his aura of invincibility went up in smoke, it seems as if Aldo will get his wish at the historic UFC 200 after McGregor emerged from UFC 196 without any medical suspension and foretold of a return to featherweight.

In today’s media-driven MMA world, it’s clear to see that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, so to say (although it’s far from a set formula – just ask Frankie Edgar), but this new and more outspoken version of Aldo is just unlike the usually calm and collected silent killer that went undefeated for 10 years prior to his loss to ‘Notorious.’

And it’s a bit unbecoming of Aldo, as he’s seemingly contradicted himself at a few junctures that have ultimately left his proverbial foot in his mouth. Now, that may sound hypocritical given that McGregor skyrocketed to superstardom doing it, but as one of the most talented mixed martial arts fighters ever, Aldo simply isn’t doing himself any favors by rarely fighting, pulling out of huge fights, and constantly complaining.

Aldo has nothing left to prove, and he is undoubtedly one of the best fighters ever. Yet it’s tough not to wonder if he could have been a much, much bigger star than he is if he would have only focused on what he’s best at, which is defeating world-class opposition inside the cage. Let’s examine the five biggest reasons Aldo should keep quiet and get back to winning.

5.) Complaining About Everything:

While it’s good to see a fighter speak out against what they think the UFC is doing wrong, Aldo has simply come off like a malcontent with his constant complaining about everything. He’s put the promotion on blast for everything from fighter pay to the Reebok deal to the fact that he wasn’t given the immediate rematch with McGregor even though he got destroyed and was not medically ready when ‘Notorious’ signed on to fight next.

It would obviously be tolerated more if he hadn’t gotten finished and still had the belt, but right now it seems like Aldo has a sense of entitlement he doesn’t fully deserve.

He does deserve respect and consideration as one of the best fighters ever. On the other hand, getting knocked out with one punch and proceeding to make demands is not a foolproof plan of action.

4.) Injuries/ Lack Of Fighting:

With eight UFC title fights in five years, Aldo has been more active than some oft-injured former champions, but he’s also pulled out of five title fights during that time.

The inconsistency has lead to many events being altered or even canceled outright, such as when his withdrawal from his UFC 176 bout with Chad Mendes lead to the outright cancellation of the card. “Money” was also enlisted to replace him when he broke a rib two weeks before UFC 189 last July, and although that event was successful, it furthered Aldo’s reputation as being unreliable.

That was only furthered by the fact that he posted he would fight McGregor ‘anywhere, anytime’ on Instagram earlier this year:

 

Fala galera, estava quieto até agora porque da maneira que a luta aconteceu eu já estava me preparando nos treinos pois tinha certeza que teria a revanche imediata. Porém Acho que me enganei. Então queria deixar bem claro para o @UFC que não aceito nenhuma luta que não seja pelo cinturão, por tudo que eu fiz nesses 8 anos , por tudo que eu aceitei e pela forma que a luta acabou. A única exceção seria uma luta a qualquer momento, em qualquer lugar e já que ele está com medo de me devolver o cinturão, não precisa ser pelo cinturão…@thenotoriousmma Espero que que vocês também cumpram a palavra de vocês @danawhiteufc @lorenzofertitta pois ainda acredito na empresa que trabalho. #rematch Hi everyone, i was quiet for a while because i was waiting for my rematch based on how the fight Went down, in fact I was already training for it, but apparently I was wrong. So I wanted to make something clear to UFC: for everything I have done, everything I have accepted and mostly how the fight ended, I will not accept any other fight other than a title shot . My only exception would be fighting thenotorious , at any time, anywhere , and once that he is afraid and knows that I’m gonna win …. Doesn’t have to be title fight against him. Keep my belt, but I wanna whoop ur ass anywhere. @danawhite @lorenzofertitta @ufc keep ur word. I still believe in the company that I work for. #rematch

A photo posted by josealdojunioroficial (@josealdojunioroficial) on Jan 27, 2016 at 12:52pm PST

But when the call came for him to replace Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 196, he and Andre Pederneiras said he was out of shape.

All told, Aldo has 13 seconds of fight time since his October 2014 classic with Mendes. He also hasn’t finished a fight since his 2013 stoppage of Chan Sung Jung which was due to injury, meaning he only has one true UFC stoppage against Mendes at 2012’s UFC 142. The Nova Uniao star brings a reputation as one of the most unstoppable forces in MMA, but he’s even admitted to coasting in order to keep the belt, so his results beg to differ.

3.) The Drug Test Debacle:

Another substantial reason Aldo should tread lightly and play his cards right was his extremely questionable drug test debacle with Nevada-licensed collection agent Ben Mosier at Nova Uniao last summer.

Instead of complying with the new and more stringent UFC drug testing policies enforced by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), Aldo and his trainer Pederneiras made a scene that undoubtedly left them looking worse. When asked for a random urine and blood sample, Aldo questioned Mosier’s credentials and actually phoned Brazilian police to have the agent, who was legitimately doing the job he was sent to do, deported.

Worse still, Aldo somehow kicked over his sample when he finally did give one, rendering it void. Then, to top it off, a Brazilian officer supposedly asked for and was granted an autograph from Aldo.

Overall, if the suddenly outspoken former champ was clean, then there was simply no reason to not prove that by granting a requested sample and sorting out the specifics of Mosier’s voyage to Brazil afterwards. Commentator Joe Rogan remarked that Aldo looked “soft” in his shocking knockout loss to McGregor, and although we obviously have no proof Aldo used steroids or any other PEDs, his performance coupled with the strange Mosier saga may suggest he might want to keep his mouth shut rather than complain as of now.

2.) His Brutal Loss:

Stemming from the prior reason he needs to zip it and win a big fight, the shocking nature and quickness with which he lost to McGregor definitely put him in a position of not calling the shots.

The caveat here is that he’s acted the complete opposite after the loss, demanding a rematch and saying that it “wasn’t a fight” as McGregor only landed a “lucky punch.” But it was a fight, and Aldo didn’t say his eight-second double lying knee knockout of Cub Swanson was a fluke because the fight didn’t last long enough.

It is probably true that, based on his overall body of work and unbeaten streak, coupled with the UFC’s recent formula of granting rematches, that he may deserve and will get the next shot at McGregor when he drops back down to 145 pounds. However, constantly berating the man who knocked you out with one punch not only makes you look desperate, but it makes you worse because you’re criticizing the man who absolutely owned you in the cage.

A rematch will probably go differently, but until Aldo shuts his critics up by beating McGregor, he should probably just shut up himself.

1.) Being a Hypocrite:

The last, and perhaps most vital, reason Aldo needs to shut his mouth and let his fighting skill do the talking is his apparent hypocrisy in addressing the loss McGregor suffered at UFC 196.

True, he was destroyed by Diaz after talking an insufferable degree of trash, but he also saved one of the biggest UFC events of all-time by taking a fight two weight classes above his normal division, even if Diaz is a normal lightweight. It’s comparatively the opposite of what Aldo has done by frequently pulling out of big fights due to injury, yet he somehow called ‘Notorious’ a ‘pussy’ in the moments after his loss to Diaz in an entitled Twitter post that for some reason contained the same picture as his previous Instagram post:

See ya at #UFC200, @TheNotoriousMMA. Your fairy tale is over. You got nowhere to run now. Time to a rematch, pussy. pic.twitter.com/67fmic8qxG

— Jose Aldo Junior (@josealdojunior) March 6, 2016

Although it’s understandable that he wants his title fight rematch, it’s also hypocritical to a large degree given the fact that Aldo had already said he was preparing to face McGregor ‘anytime, anywhere,’ but turned the fight down when it was offered to him first. It’s also extremely contradictory to call the man who just knocked you out in 13 seconds a “pussy.”

What does that make him by default then? Logic would dictate that he’s an even worse version of the derogatory shade he threw at McGregor, although we all know that’s not really the case for either world-class fighter.

It is a sign that Aldo simply needs to stop trying to be outspoken and impossible so he can get back to doing what he does best, because in his UFC career, we just haven’t witnessed enough of that once-feared destroyer who ran through every opponent standing in his path.