Not unlike Georges St. Pierre, B.J. Penn, and Anderson Silva before him, many followers of mixed martial arts have been calling for UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo to further challenge himself with a move into the lightweight ranks.

Andre Pederneiras, the champion's trainer and head of acclaimed mixed martial arts academy, Nova Uniao, is hesitant to have that conversation at present with so much invested into the fighter's routine and physical shape at featherweight.

“If it depends on me, it won’t happen; unless he leaves the team to train somewhere else and someone agrees with that, because I will not,” the coach joked in an interview with Sherdog.com. “It won’t happen for now, unless he goes straight for a title shot. Not, ‘Oh no, he left the featherweight belt, moved up to lightweight and started from the beginning,’ no way.”

“The staff of the academy trains every day for this, and Aldo has been training since he came to MMA,. This training wasn’t done in three months, but over five years. So, he put into practice what he has done in these three months, the physical, and that was it.”

The division isn't without it's share of rising contenders that could make for marketable match-ups in the near future. The UFC will want to push the image of Japanese import Hatsu Hioki who is widely considered to be among the best MMA grapplers in the world at 145lbs, and is poised for a title shot with a win or two in 2012.

Both Dustin Poirier and Erik Koch are intriguing match-ups as well, but will require further time to develop into threatening opposition for the division's kingpin; and fellow Brazilians Diego Nunes and Charles Oliveira are talents likely to make their own title-runs, but the fact remains that the division is without a clear-cut #1 contender.

It is my own opinion that Aldo should remain patient, and build his legacy at featherweight.

Frankie Edgar's remarkable accomplishments at lightweight should not serve as an example of what natural 160 pounders can do in that division, rather as the exception with a style proven to be effective in neutralizing larger men who look to overwhelm him.

Aldo would match up favorably against Edgar, but should Benson Henderson - a huge lightweight - dethrone "The Answer" at UFC 144 in Japan, then a move to 155lbs for the Brazilian will become even less likely.

In this case, Pederneiras is right. His athlete is making weight with increasing ease of late, and continues to cement himself as one of the pound for pound greats in this era of mixed martial arts. As many have found out before him, that distinction can be taken away as quickly as the hype builds around it... it's just not worth the risk.


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