Jose Aldo’s coach explains what went wrong in Alex Volkanovski fight
At UFC 237, Jose Aldo was once again fighting at home in Brazil when he took on Alex Volkanovski. However, the Aussie ruined the homecoming of the former champion and dominated the fight by winning all three rounds.
What went wrong for Jose Aldo was simple, according to his coach, Andre Pederneiras.
“Aldo had big expectations of winning by knockout, he really anticipated that moment,” Pederneiras told Combate (as transcribed by Bloody Elbow). “Volkanovski would touch him, run, and Aldo couldn’t find his distance to put his hands on him and really look for the knockout. That wait let the Australian score points throughout the rounds. In my point of view, (Volkanovski) never won all three rounds, maybe a split decision would have been the most logical outcome, but Aldo himself allowed that to happen. He said it himself that he froze when he should have attacked and finished the fight. Those things happen in a fight.”
The legend just didn’t look like himself in the fight, and although his coach says he froze, Aldo reportedly won’t admit he just couldn’t pull the trigger.
“I ask him, he (Jose Aldo) tells me no, but I think it does mess with you,” Pederneiras said. “It’s something that happens, you can’t do anything about it. That can lead a person to freezing. Because he is so experienced, we thought it would not happen, but he’s an athlete, a human being. It could happen to anyone, he had never frozen before.”
In the end, it was the first decision loss of the future Hall of Famer’s career. Now, with the loss, Aldo will have to rebound in his next fight. There, he will look to get back into the win column. No matter what, Aldo needs to put this past performance behind him and move on.
