José Aldo. Photos: Josh Hedges
Riding a ten-fight win streak, José Aldo is getting ready to defend his WEC belt for a second time. The Jiu-Jitsu black belt will enter the cage September 30 to face Manny Gamburyan, who is coming off a knockout win over former champion Mike Brown. For this bout Aldo will have an extra opponent: Colorado’s altitude.
The current featherweight number-1 had the following chat with GRACIEMAG.com:
What do you think of Gamburyan?
He’s a wrestler, judoka, has strong arms with some powerful crosses. We’re already looking at his game and we’ll train with a good strategy in mind. It will all work out.
How are you going about prepping for this match?
I’m going to start my training here in Brazil, but I’ll probably go train in high altitude somewhere else. We’re going to get together next week and figure it out. The fight’s going to be at a city way up there in Colorado, so I have to train based on that.
Aldo defends his belt against Urijah Faber
Current UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar recently commented in a GRACIEMAG.com interview that he’d like to face you (see here). What do you think of that?
First I have to keep afloat in my division, but down the road anything can happen. I’m an employee, so if they feel it would be a good thing for me to face Frankie or whoever else, I’ll have to fight him. I have to do my job, and I’ll go against anybody.
When he took Mike Brown's title
Has the WEC belt changed your life much?
It did, it always does. The media gets all over you, more people who see me know who I am. But it all changed for the better, I see the good side of things.
What about the pressure to win, has that gone up much?
There will always be pressure. I feel it, but I try to forget about it. I concentrate on my job, stay focused. I try to always think positive and that everything will be fine. That’s how I feel good.