Jose Aldo tells Max Holloway he is ready for featherweight title fight at UFC 208

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) featherweight champion Jose Aldo has expressed surprise at Max Holloway calling him out for a fight, claiming that he was already booked for a title fight at the UFC 208 event.

Holloway, who beat ex-lightweight champion Anthony Pettis for the interim belt at the UFC 206 event at the Air Canada Centre in Ontario via total knock out in the third round, called out the Brazilian post the fight exclaiming, "Where's Jose Waldo?"

The 25-year-old American, however, backtracked at the post fight press conference asking whether Aldo would actually show up for the fight, while questioning the Brazilian who does have a history of not showing up for fights.

The Brazilian for his part has dismissed Holloway's claim, revealing that he was already booked for the show and that the UFC authorities hadn't announced the fight dates as they were waiting for the result between Holloway and Pettis.

"I think everybody has a family. Everyone has kids, dates, everything. So if you want to be a champion, there's no such thing (as picking dates). I've fought events like Super Bowl (weekend) and trained during Christmas and New Year's and it was never a problem for me. So it's very easy to analyze and see who's the one that's not going to show up. This was already certain, like I said. It was certain, and the UFC already had these dates in mind. We just hadn't announced it because (Holloway vs Pettis) needed to happen first", Aldo said, as quoted by MMAJunkie.

As confirmed earlier by president Dana White, the duo are expected to face-off for the unification of the featherweight title sometime in 2017 but no date has been confirmed as yet. While Aldo has said the clash will happen on 11 February at UFC 208, Holloway claims that he hasn't officially agreed to any bout with Aldo but will wait to speak with White before taking any decision.