MMA Daily Fighting

The newly-crowned UFC interim featherweight champion sounds off on Jose Aldo.

It was the biggest fight of his career and the biggest win of his career. Last night at UFC 206, Max Holloway stopped Anthony Pettis in the third round to become the new interim featherweight champion.

The official champion, Jose Aldo, hasn’t be seen since his win over Frankie Edgar at UFC 200, and ‘Blessed’ wasted no time in calling him out.

“Where's Jose Waldo? Let me know when you find him,” Holloway said at the post-fight press conference in Toronto, Canada (h/t Damon Martin of FOX Sports). “Team work [makes] the dream work. If more of us can look for him, we're going to find him together. We'll see what happens," Holloway said about Aldo.”

Aldo, 30, became interim champ when he beat ‘The Answer’ in July but was gifted the official title when Conor McGregor was stripped of the belt last month.

The Brazilian has fought just twice in the last two years and has been known to pull out of bouts with injury at the last minute. Holloway, now a winner of ten straight, worries Aldo will not show up if a title unification bout is booked in February.

"I don't want to give up my son's birthday and Christmas for Feb. 11 and he doesn't show up. This guy has a knack for not showing up so we'll see what happens. I've got to talk to Dana White first, I've got a brunch that I want to sit down and talk to him and Sean Shelby and we can talk business."

Holloway, who became the first fighter to stop ‘Showtime’ with strikes, says he should have won the real belt on Saturday night.

"This is my golden ticket. That mother (expletive) is always getting hurt and pulling out, it might as well have been the real belt," Holloway said about Aldo.

At just 25 years old, Holloway has etched his name into the UFC history books and is ranked just one spot below Royce Gracie as having one of the longest winning streaks in the promotion.

Holloway: I deserve ‘real belt’, not ‘Jose Aldo’

By Unknown lundi 12 décembre 2016

UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo says that he’ll be facing off against interim featherweight champion Max Holloway on February 11th, the date of UFC 208 in Brooklyn, New York.

One year ago today, Jose Aldo was knocked out by Conor McGregor in 13 seconds, violently and abruptly ending his reign as the UFC’s featherweight champion. With McGregor now stripped of his title, Aldo is the full champion again, with Max Holloway capturing the interim belt with his 3rd round TKO win over Anthony Pettis at UFC 206.

Holloway was very vocal in his post-fight interview about “Jose Waldo,” a reference to the Brazilian’s history of pulling out of fights. The expected next step for Holloway is a unification bout with Aldo, and according to Jose, the fight will be on the UFC 208 pay-per-view in Brooklyn, New York.

“He’s saying ‘where's Aldo?’, you have to talk to the UFC,” Aldo said to Brazilian media on Monday (quotes via MMA Fighting). “About the fight in February, I already knew that, I only didn't know who I would fight. It was between him and Pettis, whoever won the fight. It’s not something new. This fight will happen on Feb. 11.”

The UFC hasn’t announced the fight, although UFC president Dana White was heard during the PPV broadcast talking to Holloway about the Brooklyn card. Fox Sports reporter Damon Martin tweeted that Holloway has yet to speak with the UFC about his next bout.

Max Holloway def. Anthony Pettis via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 4:50
Donald Cerrone def. Matt Brown via knockout (head kick) – Round 3, 0:34
Cub Swanson def. Dooho Choi via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Kelvin Gastelum def. Tim Kennedy via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 2:45
Emil Meek def. Jordan Mein via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Misha Cirkunov def. Nikita Krylov via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 4:38
Olivier Aubin-Mercier def. Drew Dober via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 2:57
Viviane Pereira def. Valerie Letourneau via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Matthew Lopez def. Mitch Gagnon via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-27)
Lando Vannata def. John Makdessi via knockout (head kick) – Round 1, 1:40
Rustam Khabilov def. Jason Saggo via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Dustin Ortiz def. Zach Makovsky via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)