With Conor McGregor’s UFC return finally penciled in, former featherweight rival Jose Aldo has given his opinion on the Irishman’s comeback.
Jose Aldo is making a comeback of his own on May 4th at UFC 301, as ‘The King of Rio’ returns to UFC action for the first time in just under two years, to fulfill the final fight on his UFC contract.
The 37-year-old last competed at UFC 278 in August 2022 against Merab Dvalishvili, losing a unanimous decision.
Three boxing bouts later, the Brazilian decided to make his UFC return in his home city of Rio de Janeiro, where he will take on Jonathan Martinez.
Jose Aldo reveals he was originally returning to fight Dominick Cruz
“I think I needed a break from my mind and my body due to the amount of demand that I’ve put on myself and the toll that has taken on me training for the last 20 years.” Aldo told MMAJunkie.
Since his loss to ‘The Machine’, Aldo has won two boxing bouts, drawing the other one against fellow UFC veteran, Jeremy Stephens. Despite still being involved in combat sports, boxing is considerably less taxing on the body.
“I found a discipline that I could focus on and that was boxing, so I focussed on that for a while and I was able to recover from all the pressure and everything else.” Aldo added.
Originally for Aldo’s UFC return, he was supposed to fight Dominick Cruz, but Cruz reportedly faced an issue in his camp that led him to withdraw from the fight.
“It would’ve been good for me and Dominick and for all the fans and media who have been asking for this fight for such a long time, there’s such a long history around a fight between myself and Dominick but Jonathan Martinez is a very tough opponent and what really matters to me is that I look at every fight like I’m fighting the best.” Aldo explained.
Jose Aldo comments on Conor McGregor’s UFC comeback
Just over a month after the return of Aldo, Conor McGregor takes on Michael Chandler at UFC 303. Despite the bitter history between Aldo and ‘The Notorious’, the Brazilian is rooting for his former foe to come back with a win.
“I have great expectations for that fight.” Aldo said. “I always root for the guys that I’ve fought and the guys who have beaten me because that just proves that I’ve lost to the best and I lost to champions so, I hope he can go in there and be the Conor of old and be aggressive and go in there to finish the fight and not to leave it to the judges, but I expect great things from that fight.”
With this being the final fight on Jose Aldo’s current UFC deal, we may expect to see the legend place his gloves in the center of the Octagon win or lose in the UFC 301 co-main event, with him eyeing a return to boxing later this year.