Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) CEO Lorenzo Fertitta recently revealed that he would consider creating an interim featherweight title if division champion Jose Aldo wasn't cleared to return to the Octagon in late October.
This, after the ZUFFA higher ups were forced to cancel UFC 176 -- which was set to go down on Aug., 2, 2014 in Los Ageles, Calif., -- after Aldo was bounced from his headlining title fight against Chad Mendes due to a neck injury.
According to Aldo's coach and manager, Andre Pederneiras, "Junior" won't rush his rehab in order to prevent the promotion from creating an interim title, even if it means not defending his belt on his home turf at UFC 179, which is tentatively scheduled to go down in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Should Fertitta and Co. choose to take the interim path, Team Aldo will ask for them to create one for the lightweight and heavyweight divisions as well, seeing as how Anthony Pettis and Cain Velasquez have also been out for quite some time with injuries.
Pederneiras broke it down to MMA Fighting:
"No chance at all (rush rehab). He's already felling better. He did some light training Monday and didn't feel anything. We will decide this week when he'll be able to train hard again and then we'll know if he can fight in October. He wants to fight as soon as possible, and it would be great to fight (in Rio) in October, but I don't know if that will work. It's too soon to give you an answer about fighting in October."
He continues:
"The UFC can do anything they want, actually. If they want to create two or three interim titles, they can do it. But I will also ask for an interim title for (Anthony) Pettis, who hasn't fought since August, and (Cain) Velasquez, who hasn't fought since October. I haven't heard any talks about interim title for those guys, so I don't see why an interim title for Aldo. It's unfair. The reason for creating an interim title is time, and Aldo is the one to fight most recently among these three."
Indeed, while no one has yet to demand the creation of a heavyweight interim title, there have been plenty of fighters who have complained about the lack of title defenses in the 155-pound weight class, including Ben Henderson and more recently Jim Miller, who said an interim lightweight strap should be created if Pettis didn't fight soon.
That will no longer be an option as "Showtime" is booked to face Gilbert Melendez at UFC 181 on Dec. 6, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada (details). As for Cain, he'll be defending his belt against Fabricio Werdum at UFC 180 on Nov. 15, 2014 in Mexico City (read about it here).
The good news is that Aldo has already begun his road back to the cage, but whether or not he'll be in full health three months from now, remains to be seen.