Aldo: I have a right to complain about fighter pay
Jose Aldo: “I will always complain. This is the right that I have. I always want more. I will always want to earn more. This is the right that I have.”
UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo has been a consistent critic of UFC fighter pay, and at the LA midpoint of the UFC 189 World Tour, he defended his right to be vocal on the subject.
“I will always complain,” said Aldo said through an interpreter as transcribed by Marc Raimondi for MMAFighting.com. “This is the right that I have. I always want more. I will always want to earn more. This is the right that I have, so I’m going to continue doing this.”
The ties between pre fight hype and income are not lost on Aldo, although his natural inclination is to fight, arguably better than anyone in the world, rather than talk. Conor McGregor of course delights in the tie between trash talk and money.
‘Notorious’ was asked why UFC 189 had a World Tour, when the Jon Jones headed UFC 187 did not.
“You’re looking at him,” said McGregor accurately.
And Aldo appreciates it.
“It’s great to have a joker like him that calls the attention of all the public to the division,” said Aldo. “So yeah, this is one of the things that I admire on him.”
“I try not to get close to him, because he’s not a friend of mine. But this is my job. But especially with him it’s especially difficult, because he’s a joker. He’s kind of awkward, all the things he talks about me, but this is my job. I have to do this.”
“If UFC sees this fight as the biggest of history, I just accept that we really need to promote this. always did promotion for my fights. Never something like this, but I’m happy that we’re doing it, that everybody is seeing this as the hugest fight of all times.”
Jose Aldo fights Conor McGregor in the main event of UFC 189 on July 11.