José Aldo's next fight has been put on hold as he recovers from his injury that forced the cancellation of the UFC 176 fight card. "Junior" also responded to Chad Mendes, who questioned the legitimacy of his injury.
According to a report by MMA Fighting, the 27-year old champion of the 145-pound division has not been given the clearance to return to training, and has declared that the creation of an interim title fight "won't make him rush back to the Octagon."
"Junior" spoke through his coach and manager, Andre Pederneiras.
"He's already felling better," Pederneiras said about José Aldo's next fight. "He did some light training Monday and didn't feel anything. We will decide this week when he'll be able to train hard again and then we'll know if he can fight in October."
Earlier this month, UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertita announced that should José Aldo's next fight be pushed further, he would be stipulating an interim title fight situation among contenders Cub Swanson, Chad Mendes, and Frankie Edgar.
While the Aldo camp agreed with the idea, they also clamored for the same situation for Anthony Pettis at the 155-pound divison.
"Showtime" himself was also out of action for almost a year due to an injury.
"The UFC can do anything they want, actually," Pederneiras continued. "If they want to create two or three interim titles, they can do it. But I will also ask for an interim title for (Anthony) Pettis, who hasn't fought since August, and (Cain) Velasquez, who hasn't fought since October,"
José Aldo and challenger Chad "Money" Mendes have been on a back-and-forth word war as of late. "Money" most recently questioned "Junior's" injury, and instead insinuated that the champion was avoiding him.
Not to be outdone, the champion did respond.
"(Mendes) said Aldo faked an injury the next day the UFC received a call from the athletic commission saying they would be randomly drug tested, but the UFC already knew about his injury 10 days before," Pederneiras argued. "We were talking to doctors to see if he could fight."
