While Jose Aldo is all for a fighter union, he believes the current timing couldn’t be any worse.
As a number of fighters such as Jon Jones and Jorge Masvidal continue to have disputes with the UFC over pay, it has led to discussion and debate over the need for a fighter union so that they have more bargaining power over the promotion.
Aldo certainly agrees with it, but believes it is a horrible time to do it given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic — especially with the UFC being one of the few sporting organizations looking to make things work.
“I think this is a horrible time to do that,” Aldo said at a media scrum (via MMA Fighting). “We see so many companies going bankrupt, people losing their longtime jobs, and here’s the UFC trying to make us work, trying to give us work. Look at all the money they’re spending. Look at everything they’re doing to get back and get us back into fighting.
“I do agree that there needs to be some type of union and fighter pay needs to be discussed, but right now just look at the families that don’t know what’s gonna be tomorrow, what’s gonna happen to them. Here we are, we have a chance to work. We’ve made it this far. It’s hard enough to get here, so this is not the right time to do that.”
Aldo: UFC Doing Good In A Bad Time
Aldo has certainly had his ups and downs with the promotion since losing his featherweight title to Conor McGregor in 2015.
However, he only had praise for the promotion’s work in setting up Fight Island which will resume its schedule with UFC 251 taking place on Saturday. Aldo is notably taking on Petr Yan for the vacant bantamweight strap on the main card.
“I’m really happy, I’m really impressed with everything,” Aldo added. “The UFC’s making everyone feel really comfortable. The quarantine was fine, I didn’t have a problem with that. The whole process to come here, the whole infrastructure, everything that’s put in place.”
“I’m pretty amazed and it’s kind of surreal to see all this happening. All this good happening in this bad time.”
Do you agree with Aldo?