Former featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski weighs in on the co-main event of UFC 301, a fascinating clash between a surging contender and his former foe.
MMA legend and former featherweight champion Jose Aldo finally returns to the octagon this weekend in the co-main event of UFC 301 to face surging contender Jonathan Martinez. Whilst the bookies are siding with the young American, those who have already fought Aldo know all too well that you should never count the ‘King of Rio’ out.
Jose Aldo returns to Rio for UFC comeback fight this weekend
After suffering a unanimous decision to Merab Dvalishvili back in 2022, UFC legend Jose Aldo stepped away from the sport to have three bouts in the boxing ring – earning two decision wins, and one majority decision draw.
Standing across from him on Saturday evening will be American contender Jonathan ‘Dragon’ Martinez, who is riding an impressive six-fight winning streak which includes finishes of Adrian Yanez and Cub Swanson.
As fans and fighters alike start to share their official predictions for UFC 301, Alexander Volkanovski has picked his former foe to earn a statement win in front of his home crowd.
Volkanovski predicts UFC 301 co-main will go in favor of former foe
Alexander Volkanovski defeated Jose Aldo via unanimous decision back in 2019 en route to capturing the featherweight title, so ‘The Great’ certainly knows his stuff about what the ‘King of Rio’ can do in the UFC octagon.
Speaking on UFC 301 via his official YouTube channel, Volkanovski noted that despite some doubt about Jose Aldo’s motivation in returning to MMA after a few years on the sidelines, he doesn’t think that the Brazilian has lost his lethality:
“I still believe in his skill; I think he’s just as fast twitch as he always was [and] I don’t think he’s lost that too much; he’s always been so technical and I think that might play a factor in this.”
“I just feel like someone who is a veteran like Aldo, he’s so technically sound [and] he doesn’t make many mistakes, so you need to be the right fighter to go out there and capitalize,” said the former featherweight champion.
Volkanovski then noted that Aldo will be checking the low leg kicks of Martinez “pretty well” as he looks to maintain “a nice and tidy defensive position.”
“He [Aldo] knows how to check good, how to defend very well, you need to be able to get all these angles and capitalize to get Aldo in between steps – I just don’t know if Martinez can do that.”
Ultimately, the fan-favorite Australian superstar sided with his former foe to earn the underdog victory this weekend in front of his home fans, even predicting that the fight will see the judges’ scorecards:
“I’m just going to go with Aldo on this one just because I still believe in him, I still think he can do it, again I’ve got a lot of respect for him having been in front of the man and he ain’t an easy guy to beat…I’ll go decision win for Aldo.”
Joshua Culibao warns of the leg-kicking game of Martinez
Featherweight Josh ‘Kuya’ Culibao also weighed in on the co-main event at UFC 301, stating that there’s one key weapon that Jose Aldo needs to be wary of against the surging American contender:
“Martinez has finished a few guys [already] with calf kicks and he’s majority been hurting a lot of people with these calf kicks, but man he’s very slick on the feet – he’s got that swagger on the feet where he has some type of [inner] confidence.”
Whilst Culibao noted that “Martinez is on a streak, he’s got the momentum,” the 29-year-old featherweight also argued that Aldo hasn’t been sitting idle on the sidelines since his last MMA bout, having had three professional boxing fights in recent years:
“Aldo is coming back, and I don’t know why he’s coming back, but he’s been boxing. He hasn’t just stopped fighting completely, he’s been boxing so he’s still sharp and Aldo’s just Aldo – it’s just one of those things, Aldo is Aldo.”
Culibao also sided with the betting underdog to earn a win in front of his home crowd, yet took his prediction one step further than Volkanovski to stake his claim on an Aldo TKO:
“I’m going with Aldo, I think body shot [finish] – again it’s in the hometown, and I feel like in hometown territory just does something for you, you can either use it or it’ll be your downfall but I think Aldo uses it.”
Jose Aldo takes on Jonathan Martinez in the co-main event of UFC 301, scheduled for Saturday, May 4, live from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.