Manager explains why Max Holloway isn't fighting Jose Aldo at UFC 208

Max Holloway and Jose Aldo won’t be fighting to unify the UFC featherweight championship at UFC 208. That much is clear.

Holloway (17-3 MMA, 13-3 UFC) was asked about his willingness to fight Aldo (26-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC) at UFC 208 on Feb. 11 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., immediately after he captured the interim featherweight belt in this month’s UFC 206 headliner in Toronto.

Max Holloway

Originally Holloway was on board with the plan, but after some consideration, he realized nagging injuries and the desire to spend the holidays with his family was too much to overcome roughly two months after his third-round TKO of Pettis.

Holloway has consistently called out Aldo for failing to show up to fights, and once “Blessed” revealed he wouldn’t be fighting at UFC 208, Aldo unleashed on him during a recent interview with MMAFighting.com.

“After that fight, Holloway said a bunch of different things,” Aldo said. “First, I heard he twisted his ankle and wouldn’t have time to heal. Then I heard he had a trip booked to Disney World with his kids and he wouldn’t be able to reschedule. Then I heard his gym is closed during the holidays and he wouldn’t have enough time to train. So he’s basically going around, talking a lot of trash, saying a lot of bull(expletive) and acting like a punk. He’s just talking (expletive).”

Holloway, who currently is riding a 10-fight winning streak and holds an abundance of featherweight records, hasn’t hidden the fact he would like nothing more than to fight Aldo. However, the timing of UFC 208 simply doesn’t work, and his manager, Brian Butler of SuckerPunch Entertainment, took to Instagram to explain exactly why.

Butler shared plenty of insight about the situation in the post, but none more important than the information that Holloway sustained a foot injury against Pettis that will prevent the Hawaiian from training for the next six weeks.

The timetable for Holloway, No. 2 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA featherweight rankings, won’t shake out as originally planned. However, Butler indicated his client would be ready to fight No. 1-ranked Aldo the moment he is deemed medically fit.

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.