Jonathan Martinez will compete in his biggest fight to date when he takes on Jose Aldo at UFC 301 on May 4th.
The announcement came as quite a surprise, as although Jose Aldo‘s comeback was rumored, there didn’t seem to be many advancements with it.
Big co-main event spot for Martinez and Aldo
Despite that, Jonathon Martinez got the call to fight the legend in Rio de Janeiro, where the Aldo is hailed as ‘The King’. The 29-year-old last fought in November last year when he defeated fellow bantamweight prospect, Adrian Yanez.
Martinez finished that fight with brutal leg kicks becoming just the second fighter in UFC history to finish multiple fights via leg kicks, with Edson Barboza being the other.
The 37-year-old former featherweight champion, Aldo, last competed in the UFC in 2022, losing to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 278.
Martinez confirmed in an interview with MMAJunkie that the fight will be the co-main event of UFC 301, with ‘The Dragon’ having only competed on two prior UFC PPV events, with both being prelims.
“Yes, it’s the co-main event. When this matchup came up I was excited about it. It’ll help me a lot because he’s a big name and a win against him is going to open a lot of doors, that’s the way I see it.” Martinez explained.
Jonathan Martinez questions Dominick Cruz’s desire to fight
Originally, the fight that was being rumored for Aldo’s comeback fight was former bantamweight champion, Dominick Cruz. Despite that being a fight that makes a lot of sense, with them both being long in the tooth, it didn’t come to fruition.
Although Martinez is the beneficiary of that fight not being booked, the Factory X product has questioned Cruz’s desire to return to fighting, as he has called him out before and has never been afforded that fight.
“I’ve been wanting Dominick Cruz, I don’t know how many times I’ve called him out” the 29-year-old told MMAJunkie. “I guess he doesn’t want to fight so to me I feel like he should’ve just retired already.” Martinez added.
‘The Dominator’ last competed in August 2022, when he was knocked out in his main event against Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera. Despite suffering the devastating loss just under two years ago, the 29-year-old still occupies rank 12 in the 135lb division.
With it still unclear whether Cruz will return to action inside the cage, instead of in the commentary booth, he continues to get called out by upcoming bantamweights. Most recently, Payton Talbott called for a fight with Cruz, following his emphatic win over Cameron Saaiman at UFC Vegas 89.