Jose Aldo Reveals His Desired Fight Against Ex-Champion Before Dana White Set UFC 301 for His Return

Millions of UFC fans are waiting for the ‘King of Rio’, Jose Aldo’s return at UFC 301 against Jonathan Martinez. Now despite having an enthralling main event scheduled for the night, it would appear that Aldo had someone else in mind for his final fight.

Aldo, speaking to Daniel Cormier on his YouTube channel, revealed that he would have liked to have faced the inaugural UFC bantamweight champ, Dominick Cruz, for his last in-octagon encounter. But for some unknown reason, it did not come to pass.

An English translation of ‘Junior’s’ words in the video read:

“When I started talking to Dana, the name that we were talking about was Dominick Cruz. That was said. But I don’t know what happened to Dom. Something happened that he had to pull out of the fight.”

MMA is a thoroughly unpredictable sport. But it won’t be wrong to predict that Aldo’s desired rival, Cruz may not step inside the octagon ever again. It looks like he is enjoying his UFC commentary and analysis duties pretty well as of now. That said, even Aldo’s return to the octagon has been a bit of a surprise for UFC fans.

A sizeable chunk of the UFC universe knew that Aldo had transitioned to boxing after retiring from his decorated UFC career in 2022. So did he sign a new contract with Dana White? If so, why is it being called his last match?

Jose Aldo back with the UFC?

The quick answer is no. In an interview with ‘ESPN’, Aldo revealed that he had one fight left in his UFC contract even after his retirement. This is why ‘Scarface’ had to seek approval from Dana White and Co. before beginning negotiations for his boxing matches.

But Aldo finally decided that he wouldn’t be going through this tiring process anymore. His UFC 301 fight against Martinez will put an end to his UFC contract, after which he can go for boxing matches as and when he desires.

Now, with the UFC 301 fight being Aldo’s swansong in the UFC, the entire MMA community will want to witness ‘Junior’ get his hand raised for one last time.