"I will not accept any other fight other than a title shot. My only exception would be fighting The Notorious, at anytime, anywhere."
That was a little over a month ago and it's quite possible that Aldo is regretting those comments in the wake of this week's developments. For all he's done in the sport, it's quite possible that the former featherweight champ has been given a raw deal following UFC 194 but, for all his self-belief, the record now shows that he was offered his chance at a rematch and he turned it down.
The reality of that situation is obviously not quite so clear cut. McGregor's size advantage and forward planning means it's certain that Aldo would have been going into the fight at a significant disadvantage but her did say 'any time, anywhere' and he hasn't been allowed to forget that this week.
Aldo was speaking on a jam-packed edition of the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani and he was given the opportunity to explain why he turned down the fight and he once again turned to that 'any time, anywhere' comment but this time it came with a qualifying statement.
Any professional needs time to train. It’s not a cockfight where I go there and put my rooster to fight. It’s a high-level sport, I’m going there to do my job. When I have time to train, it can happen at anytime, anywhere.
The former champ deserves a lot more respect than he's been getting but even if you accept that it must be said that he's doing himself no favours with this 'anytime, anywhere' claim. John Kavanagh fairly took the piss out of that last week and reasserting that claim after the fact is going to do little for Aldo's chances of getting the rematch that he feels he deserves.
The Brazilian was adamant that his next fight will be for the featherweight belt and he even suggested that he would do so at UFC 200. It must be said, the only way that looks likely to happen will be if McGregor accepts that he's never going back to 145 again and vacates the belt. If that doesn't happen in time for UFC 200, then Aldo is going to have to make some compromises but one way or another, he's a man who knows what he wants.
I can’t speak for others, and I don’t care what they say. I know I deserve an immediate rematch. People who say I don’t, I don’t care about them. The important thing is what the UFC thinks and what we think. We came to the conclusion that we’re having an immediate rematch.
There was quite a bit to enjoy in this week's episode with Frankie Edgar, Anthony Pettis and Ido Portal all appearing. Aldo's segment begins at 1.30.00 below although it must be said, with the difficulty of interviewing through a translator over the phone, that segment is not exactly engrossing viewing.
