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Aldo staying at featherweight for foreseeable future

Jose Aldo is 2-0 in the UFC © Getty Images

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Jose Aldo's coach has ruled out the possibility of an imminent move to the lightweight division, insisting the Brazilian has plenty more challengers to his UFC title at featherweight.

Aldo made the second successful defence of his UFC 145lb strap (fourth since becoming WEC champion) against Kenny Florian, taking a dominant decision against a previous top contender at lightweight. Nevertheless, there were critics of Aldo, who failed to bring the knockout form that saw him finish the likes of Mike Brown and Manny Gamburyan in the WEC.

It has been suggested that Aldo has bulked up for his switch to the UFC, and that the extra muscle mass is making it more difficult for him to hit weight. As a result the idea of a step up to lightweight, giving Aldo an easier weight cut, has been floated, but his coach says a move is not on the table.

"He'll keep fighting in his weight class," Andre Pederneiras told Sherdog. "He might be invited to fight at lightweight, but he won't abandon featherweight, because, I believe, there are a lot of challenges left for him there.

"He's just arrived in the UFC and has only fought there twice. Also, I believe many 155lb fighters will drop to 145 in order to get a title shot they couldn't get [at lightweight]. So, he has a lot of fights to make before thinking about it."

Aldo's next challenge is likely to be Chad Mendes, although UFC president Dana White did float the idea of current lightweight champion Frankie Edgar dropping down to 145lbs. England's Ross Pearson may also be in the featherweight mix in 2012 after successful experimentations with his own weight cut.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.