Jose Aldo already made it clear that he will accept no fight outside of a chance to challenge for a UFC title. Aldo (25-2 MMA, 7-1 UFC) was long the king of the featherweight division, but Conor McGregor (19-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC) took the title with a 13-second knockout at UFC 194. McGregor will now move up to 155 pounds to challenge Rafael dos Anjos for the lightweight title at UFC 197. Dethroned champions have had little trouble getting immediate shots to recapture gold recently. Cain Velasquez was set for the opportunity to fight for the heavyweight title at UFC 196 following a one-sided loss to Fabricio Werdum, but an injury postponed the bout; Jon Jones is returning from a lengthy suspension directly into a light heavyweight title fight with new champion Daniel Cormier; Anderson Silva was given an immediate middleweight title rematch with Chris Weidman after Weidman knocked him out in lopsided fashion; Weidman may have the opportunity to rematch Luke Rockhold after Rockhold thoroughly dominated him at UFC 194; and Ronda Rousey was positioned to rematch Holly Holm after being battered about and head kicked into unconsciousness at UFC 193 before scheduling conflicts pushed the rematch into the future. Despite the precedent seemingly having been set for dominant champions to get a shot at regaining the belt, no matter how bad the loss, it never seemed the option was on the table for Aldo.
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Jose Aldo’s message to UFC: Keep your word, give me a title rematch – MMA Junkie