Wand (photo) asked J. Aldo to think about the fans before making the decision. Photo: Josh Hedges/UFC
The possible retirement of José Aldo continues to be a topic among MMA fighters. This time it was Wanderlei Silva, another Brazilian sports idol, who showed concern when commenting on his compatriot's decision. For him, Aldo should think about the fans before deciding whether he will really 'hang up his gloves'.
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“McGregor is scared of Aldo, which is an understandable thing. I would be scared too. Aldo is arguably the best in the category, one of the best in the world. But you can't play with him like that. When you mess with an athlete's pride, what counts is not the money. My father used to say that you don't play with men. So, don't play with Aldo. If you want his fans, you want his show, you have to respect him and not make empty promises. But, if I were to say something to Aldo today, I would tell him to calm down a little and think about the fans. He's still very young, he has about 10, 12 more fights in his career and he can't leave the fans, like me, without seeing this fight and so many others that he can do. In addition to the amount of joy he can bring to our country”, said Wanderlei in an interview with the website 'Combate.com'.
Asked about the lack of Brazilian idols in MMA, Wand blamed the UFC for the scarce crop of references in the country.
“It actually caused a spread among the idols (in Brazil), but that is also the fault of the event. It seems like they don't want to create the idol because it costs too much. You don't create an idol if you don't pay him well. There comes a time when what counts is not so much the quality, or the race or the desire, what counts is the amount of nonsense the guy says. But a guy like McGregor is good for us, because we have to learn from him. Because we are on that divide: are we sport or entertainment? If we are sports, then the next person to fight McGregor had to be Aldo, not Alvarez. But if entertainment is what counts, it's a full house, then we would have to earn more, because the artist earns much more than the sportsman. That's the dilemma. I now want to behave like an artist, I want to give presentations. I don't want to evaluate the defeat or victory too much, I want to evaluate the spectacle, the audience vibrating, leaving excited, talking to everyone. You know that thing, when you leave the event and leave without believing what you saw? Do you want to tell everyone? That's what I want to provide. And if I can make the fan feel that, I'm sure the sport will grow again and that we'll get to where we can be, because we're not there yet”, he added.
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