Sooner or later, UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo is moving up to the lightweight division, says Nova Uniao head trainer and one-time UFC veteran Andre Pederneiras.
Aldo’s weight cut is notable for being especially torturous on the young fighter, whom Pederneiras claims is still growing, even at 26 years old.
But for Aldo, the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t so far away. During an interview with MMA Junkie Radio (via MMA Junkie), Pederneiras acknowledged that it’ll soon be time to allow Aldo the extra 10 pounds, outlining the current career plan for his prized champion:
Every fight, he wants to fight at 155 pounds. “I don’t want to cut any more weight.” Every day I listen to him about that.
I think for him it’s better to wait a little bit because he’s putting on mass every year. He doesn’t need to put so much mass that he can’t move the same. He’s gaining weight because he’s so young. I don’t want to put pressure on him to gain weight. I prefer to wait maybe one more year.
As MMA Junkie points out, Aldo wouldn’t be a very tall lightweight at 5’7″, but that didn’t stop the even-shorter former UFC champion Frankie Edgar (5’6″) from crawling his way to the top of the 155-pound division over much larger fighters.
Speaking of which, Aldo’s last fight at featherweight could possibly be against Edgar himself, as the two men are slated to face each other at UFC 156 on Feb. 2 in Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Events Center for Aldo’s featherweight title.
Provided both fighters remain un-injured, it’ll be Aldo’s sixth consecutive title defense (counting his WEC career) and Edgar’s seventh consecutive title fight.
Regardless of the outcome, Edgar expects to remain at featherweight to use his size advantage against the rest of the division.
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