UFC
Jose Aldo says he's no longer looking at lightweight move after "effortless" weight cut in last title defense
Oct 20, 2014 - 2:45:02 PM Jose Aldo says he's no longer looking at lightweight move after "effortless" weight cut in last title defense

DISCUSS ALL THIS IN OUR NEW MMATORCH FORUM

...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Jose Aldo isn't looking at an imminent move to lightweight any longer, saying this week the cut's gone much better as of late, and he's more intrigued by the competition available in the division in 2014.

"Those talks were stronger in the past," Aldo said in an interview with ESPN.com. "I don't know what happened along the way, but right now, I feel like my weight class has improved a little and there is a lot of competition at 145."

"The last time I made weight, it was pretty much effortless. I think the change has to do with how much I was losing on weigh-in day. I used to lose about three kilos [6.5 pounds]. Now, I lose about half that. I could even make 135 pounds, I believe, but that's not a plan in my career."

Aldo is the last remaining Brazilian Champion in the UFC after his teammate Renan Barao lost his Bantamweight Title in May, but while Barao had a weight cutting disaster into the planned rematch with T.J. Dillashaw, Aldo thinks that was a personal issue and not a systemic problem from Nova Uniao.

"I think a lot of people talk about Nova Uniao's process, but no one is there in the gym to see what our team offers," Aldo said. "So, people really don't know what they're talking about.

"I think something just went wrong [with Barao]. I wasn't there to see it firsthand, and I haven't gone into the details about it with him because he's very upset about it. The guy has always made weight. He's been on top of that kind of stuff for a long time."

Penick's Analysis: If Aldo beats Mendes, he does have a number of fights which could be ahead of him in the division, and there's nothing wrong with a dominant champion remaining on top. That said, if he does ever want to move on to lightweight, there will be nothing but interesting fights for him there as well.