UFC 301 News: José Aldo Reveals Scrapped Return Fight with Fellow UFC Legend
Fans were almost treated to a huge matchup between former champions at UFC 301.
UFC Hall of Famer José Aldo claims that his upcoming return fight at UFC 301 was originally supposed to be against another one of the promotion's former champions.
The UFC will head to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on May 4 for UFC 301, and arguably the biggest talking point for fans ahead of the card is Aldo’s surprise return to the Octagon after more than a year and a half to take on #13-ranked bantamweight contender Jonathan Martinez.
Martinez is currently on a six-fight win streak and will provide a massive test for the former featherweight king, but Aaron Bronsteter reports that the original plan was for Aldo to return against Dominick Cruz before “The Dominator” had to withdraw from the matchup due to injury.
Cruz hasn't competed since he suffered a knockout-loss to Marlon Vera in 2022.
Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Longtime MMA fans will undoubtedly be disappointed to hear that a Cruz vs. Aldo matchup fell through ahead of UFC 301, as the two men are both all-time greats that established themselves as elite fighters in the WEC before they carried that success into championship reigns with the UFC.
Aldo successfully defended his featherweight belt seven times after he joined the UFC as the promotion's first 145 lbs. champion, and he recently reminded fans of just how long he’s been fighting at the top level by sharing footage of his WEC title defense against Urijah Faber from 2010.
Aldo originally announced his retirement from fighting after Merab Dvalishvili snapped his three-fight win streak at UFC 278, but the 37-year-old made his professional boxing debut just six months later and collected two wins from his three boxing bouts last year.
It remains to be seen how many more times Aldo intends to step into the Octagon, but if the Brazilian does plan to make one more run at the bantamweight title he’ll have a huge opportunity to jump back into the divisional rankings when he takes on Martinez in the UFC 301 co-main event on May 4.
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