Forne fjäderviktsamästaren José Aldo mötte nyligen Alexander Volkanovski under UFC 237 i Brasilien.
Innan detta mötet hade Aldo endast 4 förluster i sin karriär, varav 1 via submission mot Luciano Azevedo 2005, 1 via knockout i mötet mot Conor McGregor och 2 via TKO mot fjäderviktsmästaren Max Holloway.
Det blev alltså första gången Aldo gick med en förlust via domslut. Enligt tränaren Andre Pederneiras var anledningen att Aldo ’frös fast’ under mötet.
Via ’BloodyElbow’:
Aldo had big expectations of winning by knockout, he really anticipated that moment. 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.
Pederneiras tror att pressen från att prestera inför den brasilianska publiken kan ha spelat en roll.
I ask him, he (Jose Aldo) tells me no, but I think it does mess with you. 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.
Aldo hade 2 raka vinster mot Jeremy Stephens och Renato Moicano innan detta mötet och han har nu ett record på sammanlagt 28-5.
Enligt honom själv hade han aldrig tidigare ’slagits så dåligt i hela sitt liv’.
Vad tror ni var anledningen till Aldos bristande prestation?
