LAS VEGAS – UFC President Dana White isn't yet sure when injured featherweight champion Jose Aldo (21-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) will return to action, but when the Brazilian is again ready to fight, he'll have Frankie Edgar (14-3-1 MMA, 9-3-1 UFC) waiting.
White today confirmed that with the planned UFC 153 headliner officially scratched, the promotion plans on rescheduling Aldo vs. Edgar as quickly as possible.
First, however, White said the champion will need to work past an infection developed since his now-infamous motorcycle accident. And the promotion is considering bringing Aldo to Las Vegas to ensure he receives the best care possible.
"From what I'm hearing, when he wiped out, he got some road rash," White told MMAjunkie.com (
www.mmajunkie.com). "He got back in the gym and got a horrible infection in it. He's got a real bad infection in his foot.
"We want to give him the whole once-over and make sure this kid is alright."
Aldo was injured nearly two weeks ago in a motorcycle accident while leaving Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana beach. According to his manager, Andre Pederneiras, Aldo suffered scrapes on the entire right half of his body including his butt, knee, instep and big toe. He also ended up with a pair of swollen ankles.
After taking a 10-day rest, Aldo tried to resume training this past Tuesday. However, despite taking an antibiotic, his foot had become infected and made fighting simply too painful.
"After this training session, we saw that he was unable to stand on or put any weight on his right foot," Pederneiras said. "As such, we decided to cancel the fight."
Edgar, of course, was a replacement opponent for Aldo's original foe, Erik Koch, who suffered an injury in training and was pulled from the fight two weeks ago.
When Aldo withdrew, as well, the UFC eventually called on UFC champion Anderson Silva to take a light heavyweight bout with longtime veteran Stephan Bonnar in the evening's main event. While there were a handful of volunteers willing to step in against Edgar, White said company brass felt the right decision was to pull "The Answer" from the card and reschedule the fight for a later date.
"Frankie stepped up and took that fight," White said. "Aldo, from what we're hearing, doesn't look like he'll be out that long, so we'll redo it.
"Frankie Edgar jumps in to camp and starts spending money again. Camp costs money. These things aren't free. You don't just go to the gym and everything is free. He's got to put some time and effort into it, start calling in sparring partners and trying to find people. He was well into that when Aldo got hurt, so we're going to give it to him."
White admitted he was obviously frustrated that he lost Aldo's services to a motorcycle accident, especially when the sport has seen fighters such as Frank Mir and Will Ribeiro suffer disastrous consequences in similar situations.
"It's not that I'm angry at him, it's just – come on, man," White said. "I understood when you were fighting for the WEC and you made $4,000 and $4,000. It's tough to buy a car and pay your rent and everything you had going on. That dude has made some money. You made some money. Buy a car. Buy a nice car, a safe car."
With that said, the UFC boss does not seem to believe contractually forbidding his fighters from commandeering a crotch rocket is a realistic solution.
"Yes, I could put in the contracts, 'You're not driving a [expletive] motorcycle,'" White said. "But I'm not with him. You know who's a crazy motorcycle guy? 'Cowboy' Cerrone. Cerrone does all kinds of crazy [expletive]. He rides [expletive] bulls.
"It's probably a good idea not to ride motorcycles, yes. Are they going to listen to me? Are they really not going to do it? Maybe Jose will now, now that he's been affected by it. And it could have been a lot worse. He could have broken a leg."
While other professional sports leagues and franchises often write clauses into contracts forbidding athletes from taking part in specific dangerous activities, White's not sure that would work for the UFC, whose fighters are contracted employees and who don't get paid if they're not able to fight due to injury.
"If I say, 'No [expletive] motorcycles,' and a fighter rides a motorcycle anyway and hurts himself, what am I going to do?" White asked. "We can't hurt him worse than he already hurt himself. Now he's not going to make any money for a year-and-a-half. He's not going to fight. He just lost a year-and-a-half of his career. He's going to hurt himself more than I could ever hurt him."
So for now, UFC fighters won't be told to refrain from operating motorcycles or prohibited from any other potentially perilous activities, and UFC brass will hope common sense prevails. As for Aldo vs. Edgar, the champion's health will determine when the fight happens – which White said could potentially even be before the end of the year.
"I hope so," White said. "It depends on Aldo. We've got to see where he's really at."
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