Andre Pederneiras, head coach to former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo, recently broke his silence on Aldo’s title ending loss to Max Holloway at UFC 212.
In an interview with Combate, Pederneiras explained that Jose Aldo believes the fight was stopped early. However, he believes the third round TKO stoppage was justified.
“Aldo thought that Big John stopped the fight early, but I don’t see it that way. I’m sure that after he watches it again he will agree. I don’t see how he would recover in the fourth round, after taking so many punches to the head. Holloway would surely hunt him down after that.” He said.
The head coach then continued, “Holloway started to feel more confident by the end of round 2. He was confident but Aldo was very calm. I told him the fight was 2 – 0, that he needed to breathe and I warned him about his left hand being too low. I think Aldo didn’t use some of the things we trained, like takedowns. And when you don’t use all your weapons, things get complicated. A lot of people asked me where were his kicks, but according to Holloway’s positioning on the fight, there was a risk of Aldo falling backwards after kicking.”
As far as what to do next, Pederneiras explained “You gotta lay your head on the pillow and relax, cause you can’t take any decisions immediately after such a loss. It’s never a good idea. He will play his footvolley and relax. We’ll talk later. He will go on vacations and relax. Aldo has a great mind, actually. He lost to McGregor and fought for the title with Frankie right after, he went there and won it. As soon as he gets his mind in the right place, he’ll be back to win. Max accomplished quite a feat in this division, he won against a guy who is doing it for a really long time, a UFC champion, and I think he will be fighting Frankie next. If Frankie wins, Aldo’s back on the title picture, as he have won two times against him.”
