Aldo’s trainer: “The UFC won’t release it. There’s nothing to do, you have to fight.”

Dedé (right) is Aldo’s (left) coach and manager. Photo: Divulgaçãoalod

the future of José Aldo seems to be getting closer and closer to being defined. After declaring his retirement from MMA and meeting with UFC officials with the aim of obtaining a release from his contract, Aldo, it seems, should make his return to the Octagon in 2017.

According to Dedé Pederneiras, coach of Manauara and leader of the Nova União team, Ultimate is not willing to terminate Aldo, which would automatically “force” the athlete to fight again. With this scenario in mind, even the Brazilian's possible confrontations are already being speculated.

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“There’s this fight between Pettis and Holloway, and there’s Conor’s decision. Only after that will we know what will happen. There's a chance he'll return, Aldo's idea of ​​retiring is for a reason he wants to do other things. But in these conversations we had, it became clear that the UFC will not release him to do that. He has nothing to do, he has to fight. A lot will depend on what happens in these two fights – Holloway x Pettis and McGregor x Alvarez. I don't know what Conor's decision will be, but I believe that between February and March would be a good date. The guys are fighting now, they would have three or four months apart”, declared Dedé in an interview with the website Combate.com.

However, despite admitting Aldo's return, Dedé makes an important reservation: his pupil will only accept to fight for the linear belt of the category – Aldo holds the interim title -, regardless of who the opponent is.

“Aldo wouldn’t accept any other fight other than for the linear belt, regardless of the opponent. It was what we had been expecting for a long time, since the fight against Frankie (Edgar), when there was a possibility that Conor would not return to the category. Aldo was going to get whoever he wanted to win back the line”, concluded the coach.

José Aldo hasn't fought since July this year, when he crashed Frankie Edgar at UFC 200. Before that, he was defeated by McGregor in just 13 seconds, which cost him the division belt. At 30 years old, Aldo is the greatest champion in the history of the featherweight division in Ultimate, with seven title defenses.

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