From happiness to surprise: José Aldo totally stole the show UFC 301 in Rio de Janeiro. First, the King ‘passed the car’ on North American Jonathan Martinez. Afterwards – even excited by the performance he had just given -, he announced that this should not be the end of him in the future. MMA.
“Now we have to sit down with Dana (White, UFC president), Sean (Shelby, matchmaker) and Hunter (Campbell, mathmaker) to see what the next step will be for José Aldo to take. I said it wouldn’t be my last fight. I’m excited about it, now I want to go a little further. I think I have the age and physique to get there, win other fights and be champion,” said Aldo.
The Brazilian had been away from the UFC since August 2022, when he had lost to Merab Dvalishvili and walked away from the chance to win the bantamweight belt. He decided to return this weekend to help ‘save’ the event in Rio de Janeiro, which lacked big names. And also to fulfill his last fight in his contract with Ultimate and be free to do what he wants.
The expectation was that he would now return to the boxing and a fight on the Myke Tyson and Jake Paul card in July. And there was speculation that he would face Floyd Mayweather, one of the greatest boxers of all time.
But, apparently, the idea is to continue in the UFC for a new run for the bantamweight belt – which would make him hold the belt in two categories, as Aldo is a former featherweight champion.
Currently, Sean O’Malley is the bantamweight champion. The expectation is that he will defend the belt against Dvalishvili, Aldo’s last tormentor.
UFC 301 results:
Main card
Alexandre Pantoja beat Steve Erceg by unanimous decision of the judges – flyweight belt
José Aldo beat Jonathan Martinez by unanimous decision of the judges – bantamweight
Anthony Smith beat Vitor Petrino via submission at 2:00 of the 1st round – light heavyweight
Michel Pereira defeated Ihor Potieria by submission (guillotine) at 0:54 of the 1st round – average weight
Caio Borralho beat Paul Craig by knockout at 2:10 of the 2nd round – middleweight
Preliminary Card
Joanderson Brito defeated Jack Shore by technical knockout – featherweight
Iasmin Lucindo beat Karolina Kowalkiewicz via unanimous decision – strawweight
Myktybek Orolbai defeated Elves Brener via unanimous decision – lightweight
Drakkar Klose beat Joaquim Silva by unanimous decision – lightweight
Mauricio Ruffy beat Jamie Mullarkey by TKO at 4:42 of the 1st round – lightweight
Dione Barbosa beat Ernesta Kareckaite by unanimous decision – flyweight
Ismael Bonfim beat Vinc Pichel by unanimous decision – lightweight
Alessandro Costa defeated Kevin Borjas by technical knockout at 1:35 of the 2nd round – flyweight
