News BREAKING: Jose Aldo unretires; Will face Jonathan Martinez at UFC 301 in Rio

[Leinster Rugby]

Martinez might be a no name comparatively speaking but he has around 12 odd fights in the ufc I believe. Definitely more than ten. A bit more hespect needed here maybe.

RE Aldo - he's a GOAT. Whatever he wants to do hespect to him.

 

[TriangleMonkey]

Guy drew a legend in Brazil, good for him

Hoping for a vintage Aldo performance

 

[KAZSoliloquy]

his only loss was not even a fight, Merab just holding on the fence for dear life and didn't know what to do

that's every merab fight. spam takedown attempts no matter if you keep failing, judges will give you all the points.

 

[Ace70 V2]

I'm not for this. He did right to get out when he did. If he comes back and gets leg kicked back into retirement I might cry.

 

[Local Plata]

"Jose, we need you to come out of retirement to be an enforcer and beat up potential contenders for O'malley before they get a chance to gain any steam."

 

[jjjjjjjjjjohnny]

oh wow.

 

[RonDante]

There was no real reason for him to retire. Losing to merab in a 29-28 isn’t a terrible loss, and most fighters don’t do what merab did (push aldo to the fence and knee him 100 times in a round)

 

[Safton]

@fortheo

How do you feel about this fight as a Martinez fan? I think it will be an interesting dynamic seeing Jose Aldo on the other side of the calf kick equation again. He sort of got away from his most (in)famous weapon toward the end of his career, but he did also face a few prolific calf-kickers as well: Volk, Vera, Munhoz. He had varying degrees of success in those fights (not necessarily just due to the kicks), but Martinez is IMO more dangerous with that particular weapon than any of them... I'm pretty intrigued by this admittedly weird match-up.

 

[fortheo]

@fortheo

How do you feel about this fight as a Martinez fan? I think it will be an interesting dynamic seeing Jose Aldo on the other side of the calf kick equation again. He sort of got away from his most (in)famous weapon toward the end of his career, but he did also face a few prolific calf-kickers as well: Volk, Vera, Munhoz. He had varying degrees of success in those fights (not necessarily just due to the kicks), but Martinez is IMO more dangerous with that particular weapon than any of them... I'm pretty intrigued by this admittedly weird match-up.

The problem is that I'm a huge Aldo fan, too lol. I'm very interested in seeing how the open stance effects Aldo's leg kick defense as I don't believe he's faced a southpaw who is a good leg kicker. Martinez is one of the few who goes shin to shin and just kicks through checks. I do worry about Aldo's mma game after 3 boxing fights, too. If I'm Martinez, I'm testing aldo's conditioning and mixing up some clinch time the way volk did.

 

[Rio Ferdinand]

Thats one way to try and save the card.

 

[Elvis.]

At 37 I hope he’s not make a mistake

 

[EnthusiastCultivator]

I like Aldo in this one

 

[PrideNverDies]

I think Aldo saw the Chito vs Sean fight was thinking he could finally win his 2nd belt fairly easily now

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

that's every merab fight. spam takedown attempts no matter if you keep failing, judges will give you all the points.

Yeah that fight was beyond frustrating to watch, its a shame because Aldo probably would have got a title fight with it as that would be 4-0 against all top 10 opponents, but Merab didn't fight, he was just shooting takedowns which he couldn't get and then holding Aldo's wrists so he can't punch against the fence and then trying to kill the clock by more holding positions. I feel robbed, there was no "fight".

Aldo's TDD is amazing, his hips and reflexes are lightning quick.

 

[Blanqa Blanqua]

This post was made 2 - 3 hours before the fight / return announcement. Incredible.

 

[RockyLockridge]

I'm not for this. He did right to get out when he did. If he comes back and gets leg kicked back into retirement I might cry.

leg kicks dont work on aldo.

 

[ClosetVitorFan]

Aldo is old both in age and fight years. His reflexes are greatly diminished and he can't pull the trigger anymore. Meanwhile Martinez is a young hungry contender who kicks like a metal bat and fast as fuck. Even if he can neutralize Martinez's kicks, he will still most likely lose by points.

I'd say he's older in fight years than actual age. He has mileage like crazy. Dude is like a 50 year old in fight years. Crazy he's only 37. Anderson Silva at 37 was still getting it done. Plus plenty of other fighters. Jose is an OLD 37.

 

[Ace70 V2]

leg kicks dont work on aldo.

Wrestling used to not work on Aldo too. Then he got old.

 

[RockyLockridge]

Wrestling used to not work on Aldo too. Then he got old.

he faced merab who is one of the best wrestlers in the UFC today.

Still went 0/16 on take down attempts against Aldo.

Cejudo is an Olympic Gold medalist in wrestling but got ragdolled by merab.


Jose has not shown that he is no longer elite. Everything I've seen points to Jose being able to beat someone like Cejudo easy.

 

[that Indian]

Aldo, like RDA, is a phenomenon onto himself. He has been in this game for so long and has not diminished that greatly (but certainly has diminished).

I'm also astounded that he makes 135, considering that in his heyday he was using IV to rehydrate after making 145 and seemed imminently poised for 155.

If Aldo had 1/2 the preferential treatment that Conor pulled, he would have faced Pettis at 155 and been a 2-division champ. In fact, if he had been booked to face Sterling, instead of Merab, he could have been a 2-div champ there.

He is one of the only fighters in the UFC that had legitimate potential to be a 3-division champion.