Last week, a fuming José Aldo requested that he be released from his UFC contract after he wasn't granted a rematch with Conor McGregor at UFC 205, with the Irishman instead scheduled to face Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight scrap.
Though it seemed like a kneejerk reaction by a scorned fighter, Aldo has since gone as far as saying he'd be willing to take the issue to court, and this morning, the Brazilian former pound-for-pound number one has elaborated on his problem with the UFC as an organisation.
The 30-year-old echoed the sentiments of Dave Hannigan on these pages, suggesting the UFC is no longer about mixed martial arts, and maintaining that he will never lower himself purely in order to sell fights for himself or the company:
My coach is a martial artist. I’m a martial artist. What we do starts with respect.
Where the sport is going is not respectful. The people who are selling fights are people who are giving each other the middle finger, throwing objects at press conferences, getting caught snorting cocaine and making headlines for all kinds of wrong reasons.
What I was taught and what I believe in is, I do my best inside the cage. I believe people want to watch me for my ability as an athlete. If the direction the sport is going is you’ve got to make headlines for the wrong reasons in order to be worthy of respect and in order to be worthy of the right income, it’s not something I’ll ever be on board with.
I hear a lot of people say the reason I don’t call the shots and that I’m not happy with my income is that I don’t sell fights. People have said that to me and they’ve said it about me.
‘I’ve heard people say, ‘Jose needs to be a better marketer; he needs to sell his fights more.’ But that’s not the philosophy I was raised with.
Aldo's stance is admirable if, unfortunately, outdated - within the current climate at least. Unless you're knocking people out inside 20 seconds, you have to make your headlines elsewhere. And while the MMA purist will always tune in to watch a master at work in Aldo, the swathes of casual fans - who ultimately pay the bills - will buy pay-per-views to watch the sport's transcendant stars, who achieve such status via the antics Aldo met above.
SEE ALSO: Max Holloway Makes Interesting Point While Sounding Off On José Aldo And McGregor
SEE ALSO: Dave Hannigan: If You're Paying Attention Then There's A Whiff Of The WWE Off The UFC
