UFC:s fjäderviktsmästare Jose Aldo har fullt upp med förberedelserna inför sitt titelförsvar mot interim-mästaren Max Holloway i huvudmatchen på UFC 212 i Rio de Janeiro den 3 juni. Inför matchen på hemmaplan hoppas Aldo på en fullsatt arena.
Samtidigt har den forne mellanviktsmästaren och landsmannen Anderson Silva nyligen gått ut och sagt till de fans som köpt biljett till galan att be om pengarna tillbaka. Detta efter att Silvas match mot Kelvin Gastelum ställts in och det står klart att ”The Spider” inte kommer att vara en del av matchkortet. Silvas uttalanden irriterade Aldo, som talar ut för FloCombat:
”I would never do such a thing. The UFC played an important role in shaping me [into] the athlete I am today. I have my merits, I worked hard and I deserved this. But I would not have achieved this by myself. I had to leave fight cards in less than a month also, and still, I encouraged the fans to attend the show. You can’t put the fans against the organization–doesn’t matter what happens. When everything is doing well, you are good, but whenever things change, it is everything against you. I always tried to defend the athletes that are in the beginning of their careers, the ones I thought were treated unfairly,” säger Aldo.
”Kommer aldrig att bli sådan”
Precis som Silva har Aldo själv varit inblandad i en hel del konflikter med UFC under sin tid i organisationen – däremot gör han klart att han aldrig skulle säga eller göra något som kunde påverka andra slagskämpar på det här sättet.
”I always tried to defend the athletes that are in the beginning of their careers, the ones I thought were treated unfairly,” menar Aldo. ”I had a lot of problems with the UFC and I was punished many times for stepping up for other fighters. The UFC always made it clear that I should defend myself in order to grow in the organization. But, when you care less about other fighters and only think of your own gain, you show the fans who you really are, your real character. When you are doing fine, you are one kind of person. When things are going bad, you change your personality. I will never be like that, no matter what.
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