Jose Aldo Says Knee Infection May Force Him Out Of UFC 237 In Brazil

Former UFC featherweight king Jose Aldo wanted to fight in Brazil three times this year, but the second of those wished-for appearances may be in jeopardy.

Also says an infection in his knee may force him out of his next scheduled bout, in May against the surging Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 237 in Rio de Janeiro. Aldo, who has previously announced his intention to retire from MMA at the end of 2019, said he contracted the infection while training for his upcoming fight.

Aldo’s head coach, Andre Pederneiras, told Combate that the infection shouldn’t affect his fighter’s participation against the Aussie but the 32-year-old Aldo, who spoke to MMA Fighting, who explained how the infection came before confirming that he is unsure if he’ll be fit in time for the event.

“I was training wrestling last week and I went in for a double leg takedown and I kind of burned my knee on the mat,” Aldo said. “And that got infected so I went to the hospital and my knee was pretty swollen. Once I went in there, they just kept me in the hospital.

“When I got to the hospital I was only supposed to be there for a night [but] the antibiotics they gave me didn’t work,” Aldo continued. “So they waited another two days until they switched the antibiotics which started to work. Obviously, I thought about not being able to fight and I still can’t say that I’m going to fight because I need to go to the doctor and get re-evaluated. But we’re doing everything we can and hopefully, I’ll get healed up.”

After suffering back-to-back title fight losses to current 145-pound champion Max Holloway in 2017, he bounced back with impressive finishes over Jeremy Stephens in 2018 and Renato Carneiro in 2019. “Moicano” has stated if Aldo can’t fight on the upcoming pay-view-view card then he is ready to step in for his countryman.

UFC 237 takes place on May 11 at the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro. It is scheduled to be headlined by a strawweight title fight between defending champ Rose Namajunas and the streaking Jessica Andrade, with Aldo vs. Volkanovski in the co-main event.