Jose Aldo returns at UFC 301 against Jonathan Martinez

The King of Rio is back. UFC Vegas 88 is currently going down in The APEX from Las Vegas, but we learned some breaking news regarding the May PPV in Rio. Yesterday, we learned that Alexandre Pantoja would be defending his flyweight title and tonight we learned that a legend is coming out of retirement.

AG Fight was the first to report that UFC Hall of Famer and former featherweight king Jose Aldo (31-8) will be returning to the octagon on May 4th at UFC 301 against top fifteen bantamweight Jonathan Martinez (19-4). This is a massive opportunity for Martinez in this one.

Starting with Martinez, he’s currently riding a six-fight winning streak. In his last fight, he stopped Adrian Yanez by chopping him down with leg kicks. Prior to that he defeated Said Nurmagomedov and prior to that he stopped Cub Swanson once again with leg kicks. If he’s able to defeat a legend like Aldo in May, he’ll be ready for top ten competition.

UFC 301

As mentioned in the very first line of this article, The King of Rio is back. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more beloved fighter in Rio than Jose Aldo. Aldo will be making his return to the UFC just about a year removed from being inducted into the Hall of Fame and about a year and a half since his last fight in the octagon.

Aldo had won three straight over the likes of Chito Vera, Pedro Munhoz, and Rob Font to get himself into bantamweight title contention. He then took on Merab Dvalishvili and like all of Merab’s recent opponents, Aldo just didn’t have an answer for the pace and pressure of The Machine.

After that loss, he retired from the UFC and has since competed three times in the boxing ring. However, Aldo is still just 37 years old and he’s not ready to hang up the combat sports gloves. It’ll be such a treat to see his return in from of his hometown fans.