At UFC 237 in Brazil, the local favorite and featherweight legend, Jose Aldo stepped into the octagon with high hopes to improve his winning streak to 3-0, after defeating his opponent, the rising Australian featherweight, Alex Volkanovski.

However, things didn’t go as planned, as Alex Volkanovski stayed busy throughout the fight, scoring points in every position and pushing the pace, while Aldo kept waiting for his moment, which never came, eventually losing the fight via unanimous decision to Alex Volkanovski.

Jose Aldo’s coach, Andre Pederneiras, said in a recent interview with Combate, that the reason Aldo lost the fight was because he “froze” in the match.

Here’s what he had to say:

“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.”

Andre Pederneiras thinks fighting in front of the home crowd in Brazil played an effect on Aldo’s performance, however, when he asked Aldo, he denied that had anything to do with his performance.

“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.”

Andre Pederneiras speaking with Combate

Do you think Jose Aldo can make another strong return to chase gold? Or is it time Aldo thought of switching weight class or hanging the gloves altogether?