UFC QUOTABLES: Jose Aldo's trainer Andre Pederneiras says it was hell convincing Aldo to pull out of UFC 125

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"It was such a really tough task for me to convince [Jose Aldo] not to fight. He wanted to fight anyway. He was really excited to make his UFC debut, but I told him [fighting] in such a crisis state, he may have really serious problems. He argued that he wanted to fight anyway, that people would think he was chickening out, but I insisted and convinced him.

He's felt this pain in his right arm for a long time, but you know how the tough guys behave. He just took an anti-inflammatory and kept training. But during training for his last two fights, it started to be more painful and, even with the medicine, he was complaining. Before we traveled for UFC 123, we went to a doctor and he said that he believed Aldo had some problem in his cervical spine, but he could only confirm after seeing the images from the exam.

When we returned, the doctor called me to say that Aldo had a reduction of the space between some vertebrae, and between C5 and C6, it was touching the medulla, which was causing the problem in the arm. The doctor said that if Aldo doesn't stop immediately for a month of physiotherapy [to realign the vertebrae], he could have more serious problems that prevent him from training for a longer time and require him to have surgery.

It was really hard. It was like hell for me. He was really disappointed and even cried after we made the decision. But finally, now we made the right decision. He'll start physiotherapy and I think, in three months, he can finally make his Octagon debut."

-Andre Pederneiras, head of Nova Uniao and head trainer for UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo, talks to Sherdog.com and details what went in to Aldo being pulled from UFC 125.

Penick's Analysis: Ultimately, this was the right move, even if it sucks for fans to have to wait for his UFC debut. He's still really young, and with an issue like this, where he's feeling pain and tingling in his arms, it's extremely serious. He doesn't need to risk further damage that could negatively impact his ability to perform at a high level as he continues on in his career. Hopefully everything will go well in the physiotherapy, and he'll be right back on track to fight in February or March. He's one of the most exciting fighters to come onto the national scene in a long time, and while his removal from the UFC 125 card hurts the strength of that event, it was not at all worth risking his future to prove his toughness.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_7624.shtml

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