Pederneiras (right) is Aldo’s (left) main coach. (Photo: Reproduction/Instagram)
It is difficult to find an opponent available for José Aldo, a fact that has greatly bothered Dedé Pederneiras, main trainer of the UFC featherweight champion (up to 66kg). According to the leader of Nova União, the main culprit is Max Holloway, interim featherweight champion, who is making 'excuses' to avoid the duel.
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“Honestly, I don’t know what’s going through the boy’s head. What is happening today in the UFC makes us very upset. Holloway, when he accepted the fight with Pettis, they both knew that the fight was scheduled for February 11th, and they both agreed to do that fight. A day or two later, he says he has a foot injury, that he has to take his son to Disney and that his gym is closed. He made three apologies two days later. To the point where I spoke to Sean Shelby and he said: “I don't even know what to say to you anymore”, he declared, in an interview with the website 'Combate.com'.
Dedé's dissatisfaction, however, is not just with the Hawaiian. For him, there are more fighters who are refusing to face the Brazilian, including the three main names in the lightweight division: Conor McGregor, Khabib Nurmagomedov e Tony Ferguson.
“And then we made the decision to challenge Khabib (Nurmagomedov), who is number 1 in the top category, so we could get alongside McGregor and have him say: “I can’t escape you anymore”. Because, in Dana's words, he didn't want to accept the fight: “I can't put a gun to the guy's head and force him to come in”. Then, there is a denial from his (Khabib's) father. As a coach, his father is a coach, I think maybe his time wouldn't be to fight Aldo now. I don't see it as fear, honestly. I just think it wasn't the right time. We go to the second in the ranking, who had made a challenge to Aldo a week before, that he could go down and fight with Aldo in his category. We say “ok”, so let’s fight you who are second in the rankings. He doesn’t accept it either.”
“You call the matchmaker and say, “What’s going on?” The guy comes up and tells you: “What guys say in front of the cameras is not what they say behind the scenes.” I mean, when it comes to “let’s see” the guy just talks. We can’t take Conor and say: “You’re going to fight”. The guy doesn't want to go down in weight anymore, ok, Aldo goes straight up and fights him directly. “But Conor doesn’t want to.” In other words, there are a lot of people in charge and you don’t know where they are going”, concluded Pederneiras.
José Aldo He last stepped into the octagon in July 2016, when he defeated Frankie Edgar by unanimous decision at UFC 200, in Las Vegas (USA). The expectation, however, is that the Brazilian will fight again in the first half of this year.
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