Coach: Aldo would love to fight out his contract and box professionally

Nova Uniao coach Andre Pederneiras spoke recently with Guilherme Cruz for MMA Fighting about his longtime student, Jose Aldo. ‘Scarface’ lost his UFC featherweight championship to Conor McGregor at UFC 194 on December 12, 2015. McGregor didn’t defend the belt, so Aldo beat Frankie Edgar for the interim belt UFC 200 on July 9, 2016. Then interim title was declared undisputed when it became clear McGregor was not returning to 145. Finally, Aldo lost the belt to Max Holloway at UFC 212 on June 3, 2017.

Now Pederneiras says Aldo has a new goal outside of MMA. However, Aldo has four fights remaining on his UFC contract.

“He’s training boxing because he has this dream of competing in professional boxing, said Pederneiras. “If it was up to him, he’d fight all of his UFC fights [remaining on his current contract] in three months and go box. He wants to box professionally.

“He doesn’t want to stay inactive for a long time. And there’s both sides – he definitely wants to finish the contract.”

“We’re waiting for the UFC. We’re trying to get this fight done, against Cub Swanson or someone else. He wants to fight someone well ranked, and wait for an opportunity to fight for the belt.”

While UFC president Dana White allowed Conor McGregor to box Floyd Mayweather, he does not seem interested in other top fighters boxing, so Aldo’s wish may be some time in coming. The former champ has four fights left, and his last four fights took three and a half years.