Earlier this month, major changes were made to the UFC’s featherweight division when the UFC had Conor McGregor relinquish the UFC featherweight championship in order to promote the co-main event scrap of UFC 206 between Anthony Pettis and Max Holloway, to an interim featherweight title fight. Subsequently, Jose Aldo was promoted to the undisputed featherweight champion.
While Anthony Pettis missed weight for the event, in the end it didn’t matter as Max Holloway picked up a third round TKO win to claim the interim featherweight title and secure himself a fight with Jose Aldo for the undisputed title.
While Aldo revealed that the fight was initially being targeted for UFC 208 in Brooklyn, he has since revealed a change in plans.
He spoke to MMAFighting:
“No, the Brooklyn fight is not happening [at UFC 208]. I now expect and believe I will be fighting in early March. Either March 3 or March 4, I can’t remember.”
“I believe they will soon announce an interim lightweight title fight with me. They’ve been trying to find me an opponent, and — surprise, surprise — at least one has already turned down the fight against me. I’m waiting to see who they will find.
“They’ve asked me not to say anything. I won’t say who it is because it’s a surprise. A guy we never thought would turn it down turned it down, because his father didn’t think it was good. I’m tired of people turning down fights. I want to put some pressure so they’ll take the fight.”
Aldo’s timetable for a fight in March lines up well with the UFC’s schedule. At the present time, the UFC is booked for an event on March 4th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. While there have been no other fights announced for a card, it has bene rumored that Alistair Overeem and Mark Hunt will have a heavyweight showdown on the card.
Stay tuned for updates as they become available.