Jose Aldo says Dana White told him to keep quiet about fighter’s union to get paid more

By Russell Ess - October 17, 2016

Current UFC interim featherweight champion Jose Aldo is still very unhappy with his situation in the UFC.

Following news of featherweight champion Conor McGregor’s lightweight title matchup against UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez, Aldo announced that he wanted to be released from his UFC contract.

ufc 194

Aldo stated that he couldn’t trust anything that UFC President Dana White told him and that “Conor McGregor is the one really in charge of the company.”

Last week, Aldo spoke at a media scrum in Rio de Janeiro about the state of a fighter’s union and how White advised him to stay clear of any union to avoid taking a pay cut with a union involved.

“Not only now that I’m the one being affected, but I always talked about it and defended better things for Brazilian athletes,” Aldo said to the media (transcribed by Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting). “In a conversation, Dana himself came and told me not to take anyone’s sides because the cake would be split the same for everyone, but I could get a bigger slice if I stayed quiet.”

Aldo stated that there should be a fighter’s union already in place but there is no unity with all the athletes.

ufc featherweight interim title fight

“We should have that a long time ago already,” Aldo said. “Pepper in other’s a** is refreshment. When everyone can talk, nobody does, but when you feel it yourself… I think our class is disorganized, disunited. If we were more united, it would be better, for sure. Nobody would do what they want with us.”

Aldo also commented on the amount of pay that some of the newly signed fighters are getting to compete in the biggest mixed martial arts promotion in the world.

“Today, they pay two, five, 10 thousand to fight in the UFC. This class is f**king disunited. It would be completely different for Brazilians if we were more united, not only in MMA.”

Jose Aldo is set to meet with UFC brass to discuss his contract and future.

On Monday, former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre announced on The MMA Hour that his legal team got him released from his UFC contract after failed negotiations to return to compete in the Octagon.