Technically, Jose Aldo never won the UFC featherweight belt.
Despite serving two reigns as king of the 145 lb division, Jose Aldo never actually entered a fight for the undisputed UFC title as a challenger and emerged with the belt wrapped around his waist.
He entered the world’s largest MMA promotion as WEC featherweight king, but once the two organisations merged, he was installed as the inaugural champion on November 20, 2011. He went onto have seven-straight title defences and this coupled with his three WEC defences vindicated the decision to build the new division around him. He earned that belt, he defended it, but he never actually won it.
‘Scarface’ didn’t win the belt the next time he was crowned champion either. Remember his dominant unanimous decision win against Frankie Edgar at UFC 200? That was actually for the interim strap and Aldo was merely promoted to full champion status once the UFC stripped Conor McGregor of the title. Even then, he was only briefly the undisputed champion as Max Holloway’s savage beatdown of Anthony Pettis saw him seize the new interim belt.
Dethroned again #UFC212 https://t.co/ntyl9SAAMd
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) June 6, 2017
The division can’t be held up because one fighter has ambitions elsewhere. Although he rendered Aldo unconscious in 13 seconds, McGregor never defended his belt, nor did he show any sign of wanting to do so. Instead, he went after the lightweight strap and an unexpected sequel against Nate Diaz. Another champion needed to be installed in order for the division to progress, but Michael Bisping never saw Aldo as that guy as he explained on his Believe You Me podcast.
“Honestly, Jose Aldo is a great fighter, Jose Aldo had an amazing career, Jose Aldo this, Jose Aldo that, all this fucking good stuff is so positive – I was not for one second buying Jose Aldo as the featherweight champion.”
“I’m sorry, but he got knocked the [fuck] out in 13 seconds and then in his next fight he fights Frankie Edgar and all of the sudden he’s the champion again. So for me, I never bought into that.”
Bisping is no stranger to controversy and while you can see his argument, he has been receiving some backlash from fans online over these comments.
“Don't start fucking ramming Jesus down my throat, pal.” https://t.co/1MxNtBtHqz
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) May 2, 2017
Essentially, Bisping referred to Aldo as a paper champ AKA a champion only in name. While it’s difficult to argue against that, especially considering the strange ‘one interim title in, one interim title out’ debacle, he surely prepared himself for fans turning what has happened to the middleweight division against him.
‘The Count’ won the belt legitimately by knocking out Luke Rockhold in the opening round. However, he has yet to defend it against a top five contender. His only defence to date was against Dan Henderson in the veteran’s retirement fight. He then booked another defence against former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, which may or may not have fallen through.
Claiming he has been sidelined with injury, the UFC booked an interim title fight between Yoel Romero and Robert Whittaker in Bisping’s absence. No matter who you want to blame – whether it be the matchmakers, GSP or Bisping – the middleweight division has been held up because of who’s holding the belt. A lot of fans were quick to point this out to the Manchester native after his comments about Aldo.
If Michael @bisping doesn't think Jose Aldo was a legitimate Featherweight Champion, well what the hell does he consider himself to be? Wow.
— Maximum Power (@TheMaximumPower) June 7, 2017
https://twitter.com/3boodJana7i/status/872552236454465538
Bisping saying he wasn't buying Aldo as the champion, who's buying Bisping as a champion. ???
— Matt Anderson (@CoachA523) June 7, 2017
https://twitter.com/tarciso_sampson/status/872489120387522560
@bisping Re: Aldo, he went into the cage and put the belt on the line against the #1 contender. Until you do the same, stfu about aldo plz.
— strike.mx (@strikemxnyc) June 7, 2017
