Jose Aldo believes he will defeat Frankie Edgar at UFC 200 and will have his rematch with Conor McGregor before the end of the year, when he will once again become the UFC featherweight champion.
An interim belt is not quite what Jose Aldo had in mind when he said he would only fight for a title in his next, but in order not to stay still for too long, he accepted it. As the former UFC featherweight champion told Combate, his rematch with Frankie Edgar will serve as the first step to reclaim his lost belt from Conor McGregor.
“Times are hard, so we wait. As soon as the McGregor fight was over we had a general outline of how things were going to be, but they hung us out to dry until now. It’s cool. Now we have a day to fight and everything, so we can organize ourselves better. It’s not the fight we were expecting, but it could be the first step to reclaim what we lost. Of course I’ll look for new things. We must look to evolve all the time. But both me and Edgar have defined characteristics. We know mine and we know his. I really want this fight. I’m hungry and thirsty. This is worth more than a plate of food or a glass of water to me. I want to go in there and send a message, the next step is to get the belt. But first I have to go through Edgar, and that’s what will happen.”
When it comes to the rematch McGregor got with Nate Diaz, Jose Aldo is still flabbergasted. He can’t understand the reason why the UFC would do such a thing.
“I don’t know how that happens. I don’t see why they gave a rematch to a guy who is nobody in the weight class he fought and was submitted. I don’t know what was the reason or the point to book this fight, it doesn’t get in my head. But it’s like I said. By the end of the year, Conor will have no belts, he will be finished. You can be sure that it doesn’t matter to me how this fight will end. I know I will win my fight and I will have my belt back by the end of the year.”
Jose Aldo will rematch Frankie Edgar at UFC 200, in Las Vegas, on July 7. In the main event of the evening, Conor McGregor will take on Nate Diaz once again, following his loss at UFC 196, last March.