Marlon Vera has called out Jose Aldo following a hometown return last night at UFC 301.
Jose Aldo made a stunning return to MMA after a 2 year hiatus last night on UFC 301. The King of Rio secured a decision victory over 12 ranked Jonathan Martinez again proving he’s still got it. Aldo looked very impressive and following this victory the all time great has many options ahead of him.
Jose Aldo Called Out By Marlon Vera Following UFC 301 Victroy
After his victory Aldo was called out by Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera on Twitter. He asked the former 145 king, “Let’s run it back Aldo ????” an interesting call out. Aldo has already previously beaten Chito in 2020 by decision. So it would seem Chito wants to avenge his loss. This is quite a change of tune where Chito was previously calling for Petr Yan and having back on forths on Twitter with Yan.
For Aldo this fight would make sense if he wanted to make another run at the 135 title. Chito is currently ranked 4th at 135 so a win over Chito would certainly get Aldo a high ranking. And Aldo has also previously beaten Chito so Aldo already knows he has the ability to beat Vera. On top of that Vera is more vulnerable than ever after the beatdown he received at the hands of Sean O’Malley. We saw Chito hurt for the first time in a while and appeared to take career altering damage and the loss is likely to damage his confidence.
But, for Chito this fight isn’t great and doesn’t make much sense. Aldo will likely ranked below him so beating Aldo wouldn’t do much for his ranking. It would be an impressive win but there would be the asterisk of Aldo being older. Furthermore, Chito’s best wins have been against past their prime former legends and fighting Aldo only adds to that narrative. Also the Yan fight would make more sense for Chito in terms of beating someone ranked above him. But, not many would be particularly opposed to Aldo vs Vera 2
Aldo’s Other Options
With the fashion he won in Jose Aldo has many options in terms of opponents besides Vera. Also, Aldo already has wins over ranked 8 Rob Font and ranked 4 Vera which further bolsters his position. And although Aldo has already lost to Merab and Yan there’s no shame having to lost to the very top of the division and rematches are possible. Honestly anyone ranked between 2-7 would make sense and would be good fights.
Aldo against Yan, Sandhagen, Vera, Cejudo, Figueiredo, Song, and Umar all garner alot of interest. The fights against Yan and Sandhagen are more difficult to justify rankings wise given Aldo just beated the ranked 12 guy after 2 years not competing. That being said Aldo’s last fight prior to the blip was against Merab the current number 1. So really Aldo can take his pick at who he wants next besides Merab who is next for the title shot.
But, we must remember the win over Martinez was the last fight on Aldo’s contract. So he may just retire from MMA for good to box but given his recent he may stick around. In his post fight interview Aldo did say his, “next step is sitting with Dana, Sean, and Hunter and we’ll see how it goes” suggesting he’s willing to re-negotiate a new contract. Aldo also said, “I said that this wasn’t going to be my last fight, I think I’m in the physique I still have the age that I can still fight, you can still that I can still go forward, so maybe we can come back in here and become the champion.”
Written off?
So, Aldo hasn’t written off continuing to fight for the UFC which is good news. He can clearly still compete at a high level and it would be a shame to see him leave the promotion when he could have more success in MMA. However, given his recent interest in boxing he may look to just pursue boxing. Regardless of what Aldo decides to do next he has proved he still has the ability to compete and succeed.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
