UFC fighter Max Holloway saw Jose Aldo’s Tuesday interview with Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting and wasn’t happy about it.
Aldo said Holloway knew they were supposed to fight at UFC 208 in Brooklyn, New York, on Feb. 11 before he fought Anthony Pettis on Dec. 10. He said Holloway then backtracked after beating Pettis and asserted he himself never turns down fights from the UFC.
“I don’t know what the hell he’s talking about,” Holloway said, per Damon Martin of Fox Sports. “Telling me I knew before the fight—I didn’t know (expletive) before the fight. When they told me in the cage after I won that they wanted the fight Feb. 11, I thought it was 10 weeks away so I’d take two weeks off and then have an eight-week camp to get ready for him.”
Holloway blamed his adrenaline for initially saying he would fight Aldo on Feb. 11 after he TKOed Pettis in the third round but then realized that couldn’t happen because of a severely swollen ankle that would keep him out for four to six weeks.
Holloway didn’t just take aim at Aldo’s allegations that he knew about the fight before beating Pettis, either.
“This guy is the last guy who should be talking about injuries,” he said, per Martin. “This mother (expletive) is the last guy that should be talking about injuries and being able to fight. … He got offered to fight me at (UFC) 205 and 206 and he would not fight me.”
According to Martin, injuries prevented Aldo from fighting Conor McGregor at UFC 189, among other contests.
Holloway made it clear he thinks Aldo is engaging in trash talk because the fight isn’t going to happen on Feb. 11 like initially expected.
“Keep digging yourself a hole because one day you’re going to be standing across the cage from me and you’ll realize you’re not better than me in every aspect of MMA and you’ll start folding,” he said, per Martin.
Holloway did say he hopes to return to action in April or May after his ankle is fully healed and he can train before entering the Octagon again.
The back-and-forth will add another layer of intrigue to what will be a highly anticipated fight if and when it happens.
Helwani noted Aldo’s loss to McGregor on Dec. 12, 2015, was his first in a decade. While he didn’t get the rematch with McGregor he had hoped for, Aldo did beat Frankie Edgar at UFC 200 and became the official 145-pound champion after UFC stripped McGregor of the title in November.
Helwani said Aldo initially threatened to retire from the sport when McGregor fought Eddie Alvarez instead of him at UFC 205 but ultimately patched things up with the UFC.
As for Holloway, his UFC profile says he is 17-3 and ranked as the No. 1 featherweight.
Each fighter is among the most talented in the sport and figures to be a difficult opponent if this fight ever occurs. There is now even more motivation in place given the comments Aldo and Holloway made about each other.
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