Jose Aldo shocked MMA fans and viewers all around the world after announcing his coming out of retirement. The athlete is going to be competing at the homecoming fight in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on may 4, 2024. The UFC hall of Famer and former WEC and UFC featherweight champion left MMA after his loss to Merab Dvalishvilin. He is finally making a comeback and is set to battle Jonathan Martinez in a bantamweight fight at UFC 301.
The athlete retired from MMA in september 2022 after the birth of his son but he did not quit combat sport completely. The UFC permitted Jose to transition to boxing where he fought in the ring three times including one exhibition. He battled Jeremy Stephens and ended the boxing match in a draw. He went on to defeat Esteban Gabriel Espindola and Emmanuel Zambrano in his next fights.
Aldo is considered one of the top three names in rotation as the greatest featherweight in MMA history, despite his early retirement. He is rated in league with legends like Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway. He has a pro MMA record of (31-8-0) and had one of the most impressive title reigns in UFC history. Aldo had seven title defenses in featherweight category, and nine title defenses during his time in WEC.
The fighter has competed at many world-class debut and has racked up a lot of money for the UFC. He participated in an eight pay-per-view events that garnered 175,000 buys, and his 2015 meeting with Conor McGregor that brought in 1.2 million. Aldo has also gone up against fellow legends like Volkanovski, Holloway, Frankie Edgar and Urijah Faber. It is reported that Jose Aldo still has one more fight in contract with UFC. So, it is only befitting that he rounds it up fighting in his native home Brazil. His unretirement fight will be his 40th pro MMA fight at UFC 301
On the other hand, his opponent Jonathan Martinez is a Los Angeles native. He holds a 19-4 overall record and a six-fight win streak. Following his debut at the UFC in 2018, Martinez has gained a record of [10-3] winnning 10 of his 13 fights. Aldo’s last two fights ended with early leg kick TKOs which are exceptionally unique in MMA.
Due to the fight’s unofficial nature as of now, the position of the fight on the card is yet to be announced. Aldo’s unretirement news came two days after the announcement of the UFC 301 men’s flyweight battled. Flyweight champion, Brazilian fighter Alexandre Pantoja is set to go up against Australian challenger Steve Erceg at UFC 301.
