Jose
Aldo is plotting a return to the Sweet Science following his
UFC
301 clash against Jonathan
Martinez.
Aldo (31-8) announced his retirement from mixed martial arts in
September 2022 and has since competed twice in boxing. “Junior”
fought fellow
Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Jeremy
Stephens to a majority draw in April 2023 before scoring his
first boxing win against Esteban Gabriel Espindola via unanimous
decision in July.
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It was recently announced that Aldo will be coming out of
retirement to take on the surging Martinez (19-4) in a bantamweight
tilt at UFC 301 on May 4. While speculations were already floating,
Aldo confirmed that the bout in front of his home crowd of Rio de
Janeiro is the last one on his UFC contract. The former UFC and
World Extreme Cagefighintg featherweight champ is subsequently
eyeing a return to pugilism and has already informed the UFC of
it.
“That’s basically what I told the UFC a few months ago. I want to
do this fight, see where I’m at, see how I do, see how I perform
and then I can make a decision,” Aldo told MMA
Junkie. “I’m looking at maybe a big boxing fight somewhere down
the line this year. But we’ll revisit that with the UFC once that
fight is done with Jonathan Martinez.”
Aldo hasn’t fought since a unanimous decision loss against Merab
Dvalishvili in August 2022, which snapped a three-fight winning
streak. Meanwhile, Martinez is riding a six-fight winning streak
and is coming off a technical knockout win over Adrian
Yanez via leg kicks; his second victory via the same technique.
A master of leg kicks himself, Aldo isn’t shy to trade blow for
blow.
“He’s a very tough opponent and I think he has two wins by leg
kicks, but I’m a specialist at what I do and you’re always going to
face people that do that same thing that you do. But that’s what
I’m known for, my leg kicks. And I’m really prepared to go in there
and do my best and do what I train to do.”