When Jose Aldo pulled out of UFC 189 due to a broken rib, Dana White criticized Nova União’s training methods. According to him, fighters should be wearing body armor in training.
“The Stone Ages and the training has to change,” The UFC president told Jim Rome back in July. “If you’re gonna be throwing those type of kicks at the world champion two weeks before the biggest fight of his life, he should at least have rib protectors on or body pads or something so that this doesn’t happen.”
Jose Aldo spoke to the Brazilian media during fight week at UFC 190, and he addressed the issue brought up by White.
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“That never happened at Nova União,” Aldo said about discussing using added padding during training. “Our protection is God.”
“God always has something good for us, and now the fight is going to be two times bigger. The fan expectation, him being the champion, everything will be bigger,” he continued. “About the protection, we always trained like this. Not only me, but other athletes already pulled out from fights with rib injuries, ankle injuries. That’s part of the job. It’s a contact sport.”
It’s not just his camp’s decision, as Aldo also maintains that he personally never considers using the added protection in training.
“Not for me. I ask for God’s protection and I’m protected,” he said. “The closer to reality, the better for me. Protection is for the weak. We have to be closer to reality.”
“Many people said I was training with heavier guys, but we always trained like this, and I will continue to. I’m the champion and I will continue to be the champion because of this and because of those guys that are in the gym with me everyday”
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