Jose Aldo’s return to UFC competition was announced this Saturday, as he will come back to fight Jonathan Martinez at UFC 301, in Rio De Janeiro on May 4th.
The last time the 37-year-old competed in MMA was back in 2022 when he lost to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 278. Since then ‘Junior’ has competed in boxing competitions with his most recent outing being a win against Esteban Espindola in July last year.
The news of Aldo’s return was first reported by AgFight, and it was originally rumored that the Brazilian was going to return to fight fellow veteran, Dominick Cruz.
Despite the fight with Cruz not coming to fruition, Jonathan Martinez accepted the offer and will defend his number 14 ranking against ‘The King of Rio’.
Aldo’s last three boxing fights have come at 140lbs, 147lbs, and 140lbs, with his last six UFC fights coming at 135lbs. Prior to his loss to Dvalishvili, Aldo was riding a three-fight win streak, with wins against Rob Font, Pedro Munhoz, and Marlon Vera.
Jose Aldo returns to Rio de Janeiro against Jonathan Martinez
The former featherweight King has fought five times in Rio under the UFC banner, with his last fight there being against Alexander Volkanvoski where he was on the wrong side of a decision.
The Factory X product, Jonathan Martinez, will be fighting the biggest name of his career thus far. ‘The Dragon’ is currently on a six-fight win streak with his last fight being a very impressive knockout win over Adrian Yanez, back in October.
It is unconfirmed where this bout will take place on the scheduled card, with the current main event set to be a flyweight title fight between Alexandre Pantoja and Steve Erceg.
The 37-year-old last registered an anti-doping test in 2022, with it appearing that he has been given an exemption to the six-month testing period before being allowed to compete again.
The other fights that currently make up the main card of UFC 301 on May 4th are:
- Paul Craig vs Caio Borralho
- Anthony Smith vs Vitor Petrino
- Michel Pereira vs Makhmud Muradov