Jose Aldo Asks for UFC Release, Threatens to Retire
Jose Aldo has had enough of the way the UFC has handled the featherweight title and current champion Conor McGregor. He's so fed up with the situation that he reportedly wants to be released from his contract and to retire from mixed martial arts.
He initially took UFC president Dana White at his word that McGregor would either have to defend his featherweight championship or relinquish the belt. When McGregor was matched with Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205, that's what Aldo thought would happen, but when it didn't, he blew a fuse.
White announced that McGregor would be allowed to keep his belt while challenge for Alvarez's lightweight championship in an attempt to become the first UFC fight to hold two belts simultaneously. Even though White has added that McGregor would be forced to relinquish one or the other should he be successful, Aldo isn't buying.
“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 in comments translated by MMAFighting.com's Guilherme Cruz. “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.”
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Even though White, after finding out about Aldo's comments, told Combate that he would talk to Aldo and offer to work things out, Aldo still doesn't believe that things will change. He simply wants to walk away.
“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,” he said. “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.”
