Dana White Believes He Has Worked Out Anthony Pettis vs. Jose Aldo

The airwaves have been full of talk about Jose Aldo vs. Anthony Pettis in the wake of “Scarface’s” UFC 169 victory. The longtime Featherweight boss took care of business against Ricardo Lamas, beating him convincingly over five rounds. Now the inevitable speculation of Aldo vs. ‘Showtime’ is in full swing.

It looked like there may already be bumps in the round as far as Aldo vs. Pettis is concerned, with Aldo’s trainer calling for a catchweight bout at 150lbs. With the UFC’s only logical superfight coming under fire, President Dana White stopped by ‘FOX Sports Live’ to clear the matter up (via MMAFighting.com):

“I think what Aldo was worried about, is if Aldo moves up to 155 and vacates the title, he wants to be treated like a champion in this fight – which he would be,” White said on FOX Sports Live. “All the things that he gets at 145 pounds as a champion he would receive, and I think that was part of the issue, and that was all worked out today.”

So it looks like the weight issue wasn’t ever there, more a concern of losing his legitimacy by vacating his title. By the sounds of it, this fight could be closer to being a reality than we imagine.

“If Aldo lost at 155, he could move back down and challenge the new champion for that [145] belt,” White said.

That has to be a huge motivator for Aldo, especially if he loses an attempt at the Lightweight strap against Pettis then he will be able to challenge again at 145 immediately after. This isn’t the first time that this game has been played though, as the two have been scheduled to meet before.

Pettis had agreed to drop down to Featherweight to challenge for Aldo’s title at UFC 163. The ensuing injury to ‘Showtime’ meant that the fight was a scratch, and now Aldo will vacate his title to move to 155. In reality, this would probably be the best move for Aldo, health wise at the least.

Will the guarantee of an immediate title shot in his own division be enough for Aldo to make the leap to Lightweight? We don’t know just yet, but I’ll keep you updated as this story progresses.