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Jose Aldo: Conor McGregor Was ‘Never Champion’

The MMA universe is still pondering the UFC’s curious decision to change the main event of UFC 206 into an interim featherweight title bout between Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis, but newly re-branded official champion Jose Aldo isn’t among those surprised Conor McGregor was stripped of the title. After he won the interim title versus Frankie

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After he won the interim title versus Frankie Edgar at July 9’s UFC 200, Aldo was given the belt that only he had boasted until McGregor knocked him out in a shocking 13 seconds at last year’s UFC 194 following a nearly yearlong build-up of epic circumstances. He campaigned for a rematch, yet the promotion decided to book McGregor against then-lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos and then Nate Diaz twice when ‘RDA’ broke his foot.

McGregor then went on to face and defeat Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight title at UFC 205, a fight that made Aldo threaten to leave the promotion for good. Now that’s he the champion (although many would argue with the decision), Aldo spoke up to say he knew this would happen because his loss was a fluke and McGregor was ‘never champion’ (via UFC.com):

“I knew this would happen,” Aldo said. “To me, I have always been the champion. I lost that fight because of a (fluke).

“I know I could win in a rematch. I knew I would be champion again. It’s not my fault that (McGregor) is a coward, that he was never champion. I don’t see myself losing to anyone in this weight class, or any other.”

Aldo now plans on defending his official title against the winner of Holloway vs. Pettis, and as for whom he’d rather fight, ‘Junior’ said an elusive bout with former lightweight champion ‘Showtime’ would obviously be the bigger fight:

“I don’t care — I’ll be prepared to face whoever wins,” Aldo said of the Pettis-Holloway battle. “Of course, Pettis has a bigger name; he was champion once, and it would be a bigger fight. But if Holloway wins. it’s fine.

“I’m going to win anyway.”

Strong words from arguably the greatest featherweight in the history of the UFC, but fans may be beginning to wonder where the Aldo of old is, as the champion hasn’t been able to show up to the Octagon all that often in recent years.

And when he does, he’s even admitted to coasting to decisions, relying on his superior talent rather than letting it all hang out with his formerly furious goal of finishing each and every fighter he met. This new, more brash version of Aldo is certainly drawing more headlines, but at some point he’ll have to put forth a dominant win for fans to truly accept him as champion – right or wrong.

Do you believe he should be given his respect as the true champion, or was he just dealt the benefit of some odd circumstances?

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Max Holloway “Blessed” To Fight Anthony Pettis For UFC Gold

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDbSE8fdE98[/embed]

Max Holloway doesn’t care that an interim tag is attached to his UFC 206 main event bout with Anthony Pettis.

The proud Hawaiian is just happy to be competing for UFC gold – something he has been dreaming about for years.

“I’m just blessed to have the opportunity to be here,” Holloway told MMAjunkie. “I always wanted to fight for a title, and I always wanted to be the main event of a pay-per-view. I can knock two off the list come Dec. 10, and I think the world is in for a treat.

“I thought I was going to get Pettis as the main event and move to five rounds. I didn’t think it was going to get elevated to a title shot. But the featherweight division was in murky waters, and now it’s super clear. I’ve been telling everybody this is God’s plan, not mine, and God’s plan is perfect. We’re here now, and it’s all about taking opportunities. This is an opportunity I need to take, and it’s the first step toward greatness.”

Holloway (16-3) has won 12 of his 15 Octagon bouts, including each of his last nine since a 2013 decision loss to Conor McGregor.

After McGregor won the UFC lightweight title, UFC officials removed his featherweight belt and gave it to Jose Aldo. That allowed them to create the interim title match next month between Holloway and Pettis, a former UFC lightweight champion himself.

Max Holloway doesn’t care that an interim tag is attached to his UFC 206 main event bout with Anthony Pettis.

The proud Hawaiian is just happy to be competing for UFC gold – something he has been dreaming about for years.

Holloway (16-3) has won 12 of his 15 Octagon bouts, including each of his last nine since a 2013 decision loss to Conor McGregor.

Jose Aldo Reveals Next Move After Regaining Title

Jose Aldo is once again siting atop the UFC’s 145-pound division after the promotion made the decision to promote the Brazilian to the division’s official champion, and make next week’s UFC 206 match-up between Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis and Max Holloway an interim featherweight title bout. The 145-pound strap was previously held by ‘The Notorious One’

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The 145-pound strap was previously held by ‘The Notorious One’ Conor McGregor, who downed Aldo in just 13 seconds to capture the title in their main event meeting at UFC 194 in December, but was stripped of the belt for not having defended it 11 months after having won it.

Aldo recently spoke to SporTV’s Planeta (courtesy of MMA Junkie) to discuss McGregor’s current situation, stating that the next two possible bouts for the heavy-handed Irishman, in his opinion, are bouts with himself or No. 1-ranked lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov. Now that he is the undisputed champ, however, Aldo is eying a title defense before getting his shot at redemption against McGregor:

“I think both are very tough fights for him, either at lightweight with Khabib (Nurmagomedov) or a rematch with me. So he chose to let go of mine. It’s no problem. Of course, first I want to do a (title) defense and then, yes, I will want to pursue a fight with (McGregor).”

After being denied his rematch with McGregor after suffering his first defeat in almost ten years Aldo threatened to retire from the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) altogether and pursue other ventures. It seems now ‘Scarface’ has decided to give it a second go, and stated that he always knew that he would once again reign as the division’s champion immediately after he lost the title:

“I think I’ve always been the champion, and I will always be the champion,” he said. “As long as I’m at featherweight, no matter what happens, I’ll keep being the champion. So this, for me, was something that was already certain. The minute I lost, I knew, the next day, the belt would be mine again. It was just a matter of time. Of course, (it was) not the way I wanted, but I’m happy because I know I’m the champion.”

While Aldo’s ambition to pursue other sports still lies within him he is prepared to continue to test himself inside of the Octagon and fight out the remainder of his UFC contract, and is eyeing a return to action around February or March of next year:

“I said that if one day I left the UFC, (because) I wanted to try other sports, I said if I returned to MMA I wanted it to be to the UFC, because I’m the best in the world and the best in the world is the UFC,” Aldo said. “So I had to be there, always motivated. That’s my life. There’s no way I can escape and want something else, so I’m very motivated. I have a few fights left on my contract, but I also want to test myself in other things because I think I can also do well (in them).

“I’d been training, even with everything that’s been happening. I’ve been training and helping out my friends here (at Nova Uniao). And now we’re already making the arrangements to fight in the future. I think maybe in February or March we’ll be fighting hopefully. I don’t want to wait too long because it’s been a while since my last fight. I don’t want to go too long without fighting.”

With the featherweight division’s picture looking to take better form after next week’s interim title bout between Pettis and Holloway, it looks like Aldo will be challenging the winner of that bout to a potential title unification bout next year.

Holloway and Pettis will meet in the main event of UFC 206 live on pay-per-view (PPV) for the interim featherweight title, from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on December 10, 2016.

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Max Holloway vs. Anthony Pettis For Interim Title Now Headlines UFC 206

And now UFC 206 has a main event. A light heavyweight title rematch between champion Cormier and top contender Anthony Johnson was scheduled to main event UFC 206, but as we previously reported, Cormier has been forced to withdraw from the event due to an injury. Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting is reporting that Max

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And now UFC 206 has a main event.

A light heavyweight title rematch between champion Cormier and top contender Anthony Johnson was scheduled to main event UFC 206, but as we previously reported, Cormier has been forced to withdraw from the event due to an injury.

Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting is reporting that Max Holloway vs. Anthony Pettis for the interim featherweight title is the new main event. The UFC attempted to get Gegard Mousasi to fight Johnson at the event, but Johnson has decided to wait for Cormier to return to action.

As a result of this booking decision, Jose Aldo, who was the interim featherweight champion after beating Frankie Edgar via unanimous decision at UFC 200 in July, is now likely to become the new 145-pound champion, which also means that Conor McGregor is expected to be stripped of the featherweight title. The UFC has the right to strip McGregor of the title because he has not defended the title since UFC 194 nearly one year ago.

UFC 206 takes place in Toronto, Canada at the Air Canada Centre on Dec. 10th. The main card will air on PPV (pay-per-view) while the prelims will air on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass. Here is the updated card for the event:

Interim Featherweight Title: Anthony Pettis vs. Max Holloway

Welterweight: Donald Cerrone vs. Matt Brown

Featherweight: Cub Swanson vs. Dooho Choi

Strawweight: Valerie Letourneau vs. Viviane Pereira

Flyweight: Zach Makovsky vs. Dustin Ortiz

Light Heavyweight: Misha Cirkunov vs. Nikita Krylov

Lightweight: John Makdessi vs. Lando Vannata

Lightweight: Rustam Khabilov vs. Jason Saggo

Bantamweight: Mitch Gagnon vs. Matthew Lopez

Lightweight: Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. Drew Dober

Welterweight: Jordan Mein vs. Emil Weber Meek

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Report: Holloway vs. Pettis For Interim, McGregor Stripped & Aldo Promoted

The post Report: Holloway vs. Pettis For Interim, McGregor Stripped & Aldo Promoted appeared first on LowKick MMA.

The UFC featherweight division has been on hold since Conor McGregor’s claiming of the belt at UFC 194. Still less than a year ago, that one-punch knockout on December 14 set in motion a chain of events nobody could foresee. Looking to get the popular Irishman in to the two-weight great category right away, the promotion aligned McGregor with Rafael dos Anjos. The Brazilian was rampant at that time, holding the 155-pound title, and was booked to face ‘The Notorious’ at UFC 196. Instead facing Nate Diaz on March 5, and also at UFC 202, McGregor fought twice as a welterweight, going 1-1.

Finally his bid for lightweight glory was solidified, as McGregor was quickly booked to face Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205. All this time contenders in both divisions were crying foul play. During this period also, Aldo had won the interim belt against Frankie Edgar at UFC 200. As the Irishman continued to take the MMA world by storm, the top lightweights and ‘Scarface’ could do little but sit back and watch. McGregor’s dominance of Alvarez cemented his spot in MMA lore, but for how long will he hold two titles?

“They’ll Need an Army”

Conor McGregor predicted the UFC would need an army to strip one of his belts after UFC 205. Perhaps Dana White has some troops, as reports on The Score and by Ariel Helwani would indicate that time is now.

The UFC is close to finalizing an interim featherweight title fight between Anthony Pettis and Max Holloway at UFC 206. This according to Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com.

If the fight ends up being confirmed, current interim champ Jose Aldo would become the official featherweight titleholder. Conor McGregor would be stripped of his belt.

Good News For UFC 206

After learning that UFC 206 lost it’s main event champion Daniel Cormier yesterday, this fight report comes as a breath of fresh air. Max Holloway is streaking hard at 145 pounds, but Anthony Pettis is a former champion with a rekindled flame. The lack of Jose Aldo’s next fight booking could indicate two things; he’s retiring, or McGregor is being stripped. If it is the latter, it seems odd not to promote Aldo to full champ and have Holloway vs. Pettis as a number one contender contest. In fact, the loss of a main event might just explain that, as UFC gold is always a good selling point.

Stay tuned for more updates on this, and all things MMA and UFC!

As of now, plan is Anthony Pettis vs. Max Holloway for the interim 145 lbs. title happening 12/10 in Toronto. That's what the UFC wants.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) November 26, 2016

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Max Holloway Doesn’t Want McGregor Fight After UFC 206

Max Holloway is currently riding an extremely impressive nine-fight win streak, having defeated names such as Cub Swanson, Charles Oliveira, Jeremy Stephens, and most recently Ricardo Lamas; and is currently the No. 3-ranked featherweight in the UFC. The 24-year-old has yet to receive a title shot since downing the elite of the 145-pound weight class,

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The 24-year-old has yet to receive a title shot since downing the elite of the 145-pound weight class, but has the opportunity to thrust himself into the title picture with a win over former lightweight champ Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis next month. The two will meet in the co-main event of UFC 206 with the winner most likely the next candidate to challenge for the 145-pound throne.

With a win Holloway does not want a rematch with current featherweight champ Conor McGregor, however, but instead a fight with interim 145-pound champ Jose Aldo who has gotten under the skin of the Hawaiian as of late. Speaking on SiriusXM Rush’s Toe-2-Toe earlier this week (courtesy of MMA Fighting), Holloway called the Brazilian champ a ‘pu**y’ for threatening to retire if not granted his rematch with ‘The Notorious One’ form UFC 194:

“After this fight everything to my agenda is let me know if Aldo found that f**king vaccine for that f**king pussy-itis he got. That motherf**ker been running. So tell him he can’t run for much longer. Tell him a Hawaiian is coming and I’m creeping. Tell him to be ready.”

While Holloway admits the obvious thing to do with a win over Pettis would be to call out McGregor, but believes the more ‘realistic’ option would be to throw down with Aldo next.

Make no mistake, however, Holloway would still love to avenge his previous loss to the Irishman, and welcomes the opportunity to silence the naysayers who claim that he was the only opponent the heavy-handed SBG Ireland product didn’t knock out because he was injured:

“The obvious thing is I would love to fight Conor McGregor. We’ve got some history there and he won and people saying he didn’t knock me out because of an injury he had. I was injured in the fight too so let’s test that theory, I want to test that theory. But being realistic, there’s a guy with an interim title inside our division. That’d be f**kin’ wild if the UFC let me pass the interim title to fight for the real belt. I’m just being realistic, that’s why I’m saying Aldo. And Conor’s gonna be gone for a while too. They said he might not be fighting for a while.”

“I have no control over it so why cry over spilled milk? You spill milk, are you gonna try and mop it up and squeeze the mop back into the carton? No, you mop that s**t up and you move on. I’m not gonna cry about something I have no control over. It is what it is. I’m gonna keep showing the world what I deserve…and they can’t be denying me for much longer. All I have to do is keeping on focusing on what Max Holloway does and that’s winning and winning fashionably.”

Despite many believing that Holloway could potentially hold out for a title fight given his recent streak of impressive victories, ‘Blessed’ instead wants to continue proving he is the best in the world. What better opportunity to do so than defeating a former champion?

“I ain’t making no excuses. Everybody is like, ‘oh you deserve a title shot, you should wait.’ If you’re waiting then you don’t believe you’re the best guy in the world. I believe I’m the best guy in the world. Pettis has a lot of value to his name. He’s a former champion. Motherf**ker’s on a Wheaties box so that’s pretty big. He has a huge name and I look forward to the challenge.”

If Holloway is able to emerge victorious over ‘Showtime’ come fight night in Canada, do you believe that a match-up with Aldo is on the horizon? Or will he again be denied a shot at the UFC gold he has been working towards his entire career?

Holloway and Pettis will meet in the co-main event of UFC 206 live on pay-per-view (PPV), from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on December 10, 2016.

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