Jose Aldo on UFC return: My exclusive contract can't let me chase other dreams
Written by Anton Tabuena
Just a couple of months ago, Jose Aldo was so upset with the UFC that he requested for a release, vowed to never fight again, and even threatened to go to court or take a dive just to finish out his contract with the promotion. Things seemed to have changed and the long time featherweight champion will be back in the UFC.
Apart from being upgraded to full featherweight champion status, Aldo also stated that the UFC may soon announce him being involved in an interim lightweight title bout. So what’s the reason for the change of heart? Aldo says part of it is because of the restrictions to pursue other things with his UFC contract.
“No. 1, I'm young. I'm too young to stop. And No. 2, I have a contract and it's exclusive,” Aldo told MMA Fighting. “It doesn't allow me to go chase those other dreams. So what was I going to do? It's not like I was going to be allowed to box or chase those other dreams.”
Aldo has detailed his many grievances with the UFC in the past, and he says these several factors contributed to being discontent and wanting to move on to other things.
“At that time, I was just really frustrated,” Aldo said.
“Plus, I've had a long-time dream to try my hand at boxing. It's something I've always wanted to give a shot. Also, soccer. I've always had a passion for soccer. And at that time, I was just kinda feeling like I wanted to do other things. I thought, as long as this division isn't moving and this is the way I'm being treated, I'll go do something else, and when they do figure it out, I'll come back.”
Aldo states that he has about 5 or 6 bouts remaining in his UFC contract, and that would prevent him from switching over to boxing. It’s this restrictive contract that groups of fighters are trying to combat in court and in congress, with the UFC Antitrust Lawsuit, the Ali Act expansion, and others.
While Aldo considers his somewhat rocky relationship with the UFC to be nothing out of the ordinary, he says he would support these fighters’ efforts to organize.
“I'm happy to be in the best and most prestigious event in the world,” he said. “Do I want better? Do I want more? Yeah, I want more. Everybody wants more. No different than any other employee-employer relationship.
“I am not affiliated with any specific union or association. I am in favor of all the unions and associations for athletes. I really want to see improvements for MMA fighters. I want to see improvements across the board, and I feel like most MMA fighters don't really know how to advance their own interests. They need support, they need direction. They need to be organized. They need good leadership to help them to structure that and figure out the best way to move forward.
“...There's a lot of different people doing things. I saw something about people trying to make MMA part of the Ali act and testifying in front of congress. I think there's a lot of different efforts under way now, and I'm supportive of all of them. I don't know which one is going to work or which will be the most helpful, but I'm really glad that there are so many people trying to make things better because I think they need to get better and I think that the fighters do need to be organized in a more formal way.”
He also went on to say that while he supports these efforts and wants to see change, and cites time and effort as the reasons he likely isn’t going to take a leadership role with these organizations until after his fighting days.
*This article originally appeared on Bloody Elbow. It was written by Anton Tabuena on Dec. 21, 2016
