UFC
Dana White says UFC still targeting Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar, not eying a motorcycle ban for fighters
Sep 14, 2012 - 10:25:05 AM Dana White says UFC still targeting Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar, not eying a motorcycle ban for fighters

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

UFC President Dana White added another wrinkle into the Jose Aldo story on Thursday, revealing in an interview with MMAJunkie.com that the injuries Aldo sustained in a motorcycle accident opened him up to an infection in his foot. It was that infection, and not the initial injury, which ultimately caused his removal from UFC 153.

"From what I'm hearing, when he wiped out, he got some road rash," White said. "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 tried to power through as he returned to training this week, but his coach Andre Pederneiras has said in multiple interviews that the young Featherweight Champ was simply in too much pain and they needed to pull out of the event.

That took him out of a super fight with former UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar, who had stepped up to replace injured challenger Erik Koch on short notice. However, as Aldo isn't expected to be delayed for a terribly long period of time, White says Edgar will still likely be getting that fight next.

"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."

Considering this injury, infection, and subsequent removal from the event stemmed from a motorcycle accident, it would be understandable for White to be upset with Aldo over partaking in an overly risky form of transportation. However, White said he wasn't angry at the Champ, and said that while he and the organization could disallow motorcycles for their athletes, it's not really an issue he feels they can enforce.

"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."

"Yes, I could put in the contracts, 'You're not driving a [expletive] motorcycle,'" White continued. "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."

"If I say, 'No [expletive] motorcycles,' and a fighter rides a motorcycle anyway and hurts himself, what am I going to do? 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."

Penick's Analysis: Keeping the fight against Edgar is the sensible approach for now, even though the delay for Aldo opened back up the possibility for Erik Koch to keep the fight. Still, the super fight is what the UFC wound up with when Koch went down, and that's the fight they want to keep intact if at all possible. Given that Edgar was originally planning a December fight at 145 lbs., they've got time on their side for now. As for the motorcycle issue, White's got a point that the fighter only hurts themselves and their own ability to make money, but it has a negative effect on the UFC's bottom line as well, especially for those fighters at the top of fight cards. Enforcing it with their own contractually agreed to fine could help discourage that type of thing. Then again, as in the case of the aforementioned Cerrone, it might not. Of course, considering they've had Harley Davidson as one of their major recent sponsors, and have given motorcycles away to at least a few fighters, there would be mixed messages in laying out a ban on their use now.