Jose
Aldo’s return from retirement to help bolster the UFC 301
card in Rio de Janeiro was met with celebration by Brazilian
fans.
Advertisement
In addition to Aldo, the promotion’s return to Rio de Janeiro
includes Brazilian standouts such as flyweight champ Alexandre
Pantoja, Caio
Borralho and Michel
Pereira — making the card more appealing to fans in the
country.
Aldo will face Jonathan
Martinez in a bantamweight bout on May 4 at Rio Arena. In an
interview with Sherdog.com, Nova Uniao coach Andre
Pederneiras shared additional details regarding negotiations
for Aldo’s UFC return.
“Since last year we were negotiating for the last fight of Aldo’s
UFC contract. Since I started to negotiate with Sean Shelby, three
months ago, many names were considered,” Pederneiras said. “Of
course, we started from the top of the rankings, trying some names
that would make sense for a last fight at home, but most of those
names were not available.
Dominick [Cruz] needed more time; [Henry] Cejudo had a shoulder
injury. We also asked about [Cory] Sandhagen and a rematch with
Petr
Yan, but no one at the top of the rankings was available. So we
started to ask about the guys at the bottom of the rankings, and
that’s how Jonathan´s name came up.”
According to Pederneiras, the fight was finalized just days before
it was announced by the UFC.
“It was getting close, and I told Shelby that we needed a decision,
otherwise it would be hard for Aldo to cut weight and get ready for
May 4,” the coach said. “We are not talking about the featherweight
division, but bantamweight. We just got the confirmation eight
weeks before the event. Now, in addition to the weight cutting
process, we are readapting Aldo, who was just training in boxing
for the last two years, to return to train all MMA
disciplines.”
An unexpected addition to Aldo’s camp this time around is ONE
Championship title holder Fabricio
Andrade.
“He was spending some time training with us in Rio when the fight
was decided,” Pederneiras said. “Martinez is southpaw. Andrade
works in both stances, throws good knees. If Aldo is defending
Fabricio’s attacks well by the end of camp, he will not have
problems during the fight.”
Pederneiras also analyzed Martinez’s strengths.
“He has great low kicks and uses his inside leg kicks very well to
open up other ways to attack,” Pederneiras said. “Also, he is very
experienced in the striking game, even though he doesn’t have an
iron chin. Definitely the fans can expect a great fight.”