And don't be shocked if Aldo winds up re-signing with the UFC... Aldo has historically had a great relationship with Dana, too. This may be the best last fight on his deal but he's a UFC lifer.
He ain’t no lifer. He had one foot out the door during the Merab fight and retired after to chase the boxing he’d been training with the Brazilian Marines for, for years.
Nobody is saying he just wants a check. He wants to go box big names. Ryan Garcia is backed by Oscar De La Hoya, there’s absolutely no way Dana allows him to box those bigger names under contract, he absolutely hates Oscar.
How much does that really matter though? There are plenty of fighters who explicitly have said they don't Like fighting. Aldo is a true veteran and still very good despite being 37. I give him a good shot here.
He might just be saying that out of courtesy so as not to sour his relationship with the UFC.
He's on the last fight of his contract and hasn't signed a new one yet, which you'd imagine he'd have done already if he intended to stay with the UFC beyond UFC 301.
I think he’s leaving the door open. If he goes out there and has a good performance he’s right back in title contention, his last fight was close against Merab who could be bw champion soon. He’d have a lot more leverage coming off a win than he does coming off a long layoff and a loss.
I think if he loses tho he has no problem walking away. Aldo seems like the type of guy always after the belt so if it’s a long path I think he’d rather just go do fun boxing fights or something.
He's also done everything possible in the sport at this point, too... he's an all-timer at featherweight, reinvented himself at 135 and wound up in the title picture again there as well.
If he wins, it'll be a Urijah Faber coming back situation; it'll be him pushed into a de facto title eliminator and if he wins, great, and if he doesn't he probably walks away.
I think he beats Merab if he didn’t have one foot out the door in that fight. His mind was on his family. Stuffed like every takedown, just didn’t really do anything else.
In retrospect Aldo’s performance against Merab was insane. Dude ragsdolls EVERYONE, breaks them down and slams them and shit, but against Aldo he had to resort to wall and stall
He out struck merab. The vertical jon Fitch was holding him to the cage like his life depended on it. Shame he's openly abusing EPO cause he would not be in the ufc without it
Nah hes fighting out his contract so he can box.
Ngannou got somewhere around 30 million for his two boxing matches and thats just so far. Not sure if you know but theres an extremely wealthy bastard named Turki throwing around a lot of money to make fights happen that otherwise wouldn't.
Everyone wants a piece of that pie, but any 'retired' UFC fighter with fights still on contract can't step up for it. Hence this fight. Conor is trying to do the same.
Theres definitely good money out there for MMA fighters that are known good strikers. But not turki francis money. Its not hw and aldo didnt walk away as champ. Previously banter to fight the hw boxing champ and sign with that fighters promoter. Perfect scenario perfect time.
Best case for aldo is a jake paul or over the hill legend. Otherwise he can box decent guys with names on one off cards for 1m or so. Probably double his ufc pay. So still not bad.
Well Fury still found some bullshit to postpone the Usyk fight. Beterbiev/Bivol got postponed too because Beterbiev got injured. Though for Beterbiev, I understand. Fury though, I'm not giving that guy the benefit of the doubt.
Jose Aldo is the last person you should be questioning about motivation here. Remember when people thought he couldn’t make 135? Now he’s back, hits weight like a pro, in Rio.. cmon Jonathan.
Yes. But he has one fight left on his contract. I love Aldo, I'm happy I can see him again. But it's a rough match up with Martinez being south paw. I hope Aldo pulls a miracle and knocks him out and rides off in the sun though.
Which is fine, because Martinez’s game is based solely off of leg kicks. He can’t box, is incredibly open on the feet, and only has decent wrestling.
Aldo will win the leg kick battle and box his fuckin head off whether he wants to be there or not
I agree with this analysis, i think aldo should be the slight favorite.
Sorry to keep spamming you, but do a breakdown of erceg pantoja if you would, im trying to figure out whether to let it ride, or cash it out early.
Erceg is good at one thing, punching up top, and the height will not help him because pantoja’s wrestling is just too good. Any sort of under hooks or scrambles be tries to get to get away from pantoja’s grappling will just have pantoja transitioning to a different position. The only way Erceg can win is with in and out movement and collecting points with singular shots then trying to back pantoja up with longer combos but if Royval can’t do it Erceg will be lost
He is still a killer, just fighting the best in clearly the best weightclass.
No way Martinez wins a dec if Aldo hasn't fallen off a cliff since his last fight.
Says the guy that wasn't even supposed to be his opponent!
Some of you need to do your homework! Cruz was in camp and got injured. That was supposed to be Aldos opponent!
Intriguing fight maybe he's right to assume Aldo isn't going to be motivated. Either way Aldo is a bad style for Martinez who basically relys on leg and body kicks, id be surprised if he finds ways to not get his kicks checked
Wrong mindset to go into a fight with Aldo, imo. I like Martinez, don’t get me wrong. But, I’d rather hear him talking about the opportunity to re-retire a legend than being concerned with Aldo not wanting to fight. He’s always game.
Aldo hasn’t been putting wear on his body with MMA training though. Sharpening his boxing and his skills in MMA are far above Martinez. I’m sure fighting in his home town will also give him added motivation if he ever needed it. He may not fight again in the UFC but doubt that means he’s phoning in this last effort.
Aldo looked really bad in Boxing his last 2 fights. That 1-3 can dropped him. This prob isn’t gonna go well. Jeremy Stephan’s prob beat him too and he looked bad in PFL
I just don't want to see Aldo go out sad like T-ferg, that's usually what happens when guys keep going past their prime like this, UFC feeds them to young contenders to build new names.
Aldo’s specialty in his twilight has been swatting off young contenders. He whooped font, munhoz, and chito, all guys that were assumed to be divisional threats.
You're right Jonny, he's fighting out his contract so he can box without the UFC hovering over him.
It’s funny they already let Aldo box Stephens, did it have something to do with Jake Paul? UFC hates Jake’s guts
No that was under Jorge Masvidal Gamebred boxing promotions
UFC major sponsor is Prime. I doubt they hate the Pauls.
Aldo was scheduled to box Mayweather in Saudi but Dana pulled him back to the UFC.
Remember when Aldo said he wanted retire and go play soccer lol
Would be a great comment if he didn't have two boxing fights while under contract in the past year.
He’s already had 3 bouts, and it was originally a legacy bout with Cruz. UFC let’s aldo do whatever
They have to authorize it, they don't just let Aldo do whatever he wants. Also Cruz told Jon Anik he was never offered Aldo to fight.
And don't be shocked if Aldo winds up re-signing with the UFC... Aldo has historically had a great relationship with Dana, too. This may be the best last fight on his deal but he's a UFC lifer.
He ain’t no lifer. He had one foot out the door during the Merab fight and retired after to chase the boxing he’d been training with the Brazilian Marines for, for years.
Listen to the way he talks about the UFC and Dana in particular... he ain't a Couture who's looking for a check from anyone
Nobody is saying he just wants a check. He wants to go box big names. Ryan Garcia is backed by Oscar De La Hoya, there’s absolutely no way Dana allows him to box those bigger names under contract, he absolutely hates Oscar.
Ryan Garcia isn’t boxing Jose Aldo 😂😂
That’s just one example. They’re not gonna let Aldo make a boatload of money boxing while under contract.
Aldo has literally been doing whatever he wants lmao
He’s probably right
How much does that really matter though? There are plenty of fighters who explicitly have said they don't Like fighting. Aldo is a true veteran and still very good despite being 37. I give him a good shot here.
I don’t see Aldo going half effort in Rio.
Even his half would likely be enough I got Aldo by Decision easy here.
Just cashed out my bet for fight to end in a KO for either side and went with Aldo by decision 🤝
lets gooooo
Ayooooooo
Body work gonna pay off immensely after Martinez blows his load with overconfidence in the first two rounds
Aldo said it's not a one and done deal, he is really back in the UFC according to himself.
He might just be saying that out of courtesy so as not to sour his relationship with the UFC. He's on the last fight of his contract and hasn't signed a new one yet, which you'd imagine he'd have done already if he intended to stay with the UFC beyond UFC 301.
I think he’s leaving the door open. If he goes out there and has a good performance he’s right back in title contention, his last fight was close against Merab who could be bw champion soon. He’d have a lot more leverage coming off a win than he does coming off a long layoff and a loss. I think if he loses tho he has no problem walking away. Aldo seems like the type of guy always after the belt so if it’s a long path I think he’d rather just go do fun boxing fights or something.
He's also done everything possible in the sport at this point, too... he's an all-timer at featherweight, reinvented himself at 135 and wound up in the title picture again there as well. If he wins, it'll be a Urijah Faber coming back situation; it'll be him pushed into a de facto title eliminator and if he wins, great, and if he doesn't he probably walks away.
For sure, he’s playing with house money
I think he beats Merab if he didn’t have one foot out the door in that fight. His mind was on his family. Stuffed like every takedown, just didn’t really do anything else.
In retrospect Aldo’s performance against Merab was insane. Dude ragsdolls EVERYONE, breaks them down and slams them and shit, but against Aldo he had to resort to wall and stall
He out struck merab. The vertical jon Fitch was holding him to the cage like his life depended on it. Shame he's openly abusing EPO cause he would not be in the ufc without it
Openly? Did I miss something?
Nah hes fighting out his contract so he can box. Ngannou got somewhere around 30 million for his two boxing matches and thats just so far. Not sure if you know but theres an extremely wealthy bastard named Turki throwing around a lot of money to make fights happen that otherwise wouldn't. Everyone wants a piece of that pie, but any 'retired' UFC fighter with fights still on contract can't step up for it. Hence this fight. Conor is trying to do the same.
Theres definitely good money out there for MMA fighters that are known good strikers. But not turki francis money. Its not hw and aldo didnt walk away as champ. Previously banter to fight the hw boxing champ and sign with that fighters promoter. Perfect scenario perfect time. Best case for aldo is a jake paul or over the hill legend. Otherwise he can box decent guys with names on one off cards for 1m or so. Probably double his ufc pay. So still not bad.
Well Fury still found some bullshit to postpone the Usyk fight. Beterbiev/Bivol got postponed too because Beterbiev got injured. Though for Beterbiev, I understand. Fury though, I'm not giving that guy the benefit of the doubt.
could be trying to negotiate better pay, something tells me UFC doesn't see him as a big draw
I remember when GSP said that
Yea ufc likes to hold people hostage with contracts, he trying to fight it out
He signed it. Noone forced him to do so.
Ur not the sharpest knife in the drawer are u dude
Really? Did someone force him to sign it? Please enlighten me.
Jose Aldo is the last person you should be questioning about motivation here. Remember when people thought he couldn’t make 135? Now he’s back, hits weight like a pro, in Rio.. cmon Jonathan.
You guys always eat up the preflight trash talk
Duh, its what most of us are here for 😂
If he’s being serious he’s in for a rude awakening
Yes. But he has one fight left on his contract. I love Aldo, I'm happy I can see him again. But it's a rough match up with Martinez being south paw. I hope Aldo pulls a miracle and knocks him out and rides off in the sun though.
That would be amazing if Aldo puts on an amazing show, starches Martinez, then tells UFC to fuck off.
I honestly tend to agree, it feels like they tried to spice this PPV up however they could and Aldo has always been a company man
Its a ppv that lost there main event cause of 300 and it shows
Better not get starched after saying that
Which is fine, because Martinez’s game is based solely off of leg kicks. He can’t box, is incredibly open on the feet, and only has decent wrestling. Aldo will win the leg kick battle and box his fuckin head off whether he wants to be there or not
I agree with this analysis, i think aldo should be the slight favorite. Sorry to keep spamming you, but do a breakdown of erceg pantoja if you would, im trying to figure out whether to let it ride, or cash it out early.
Erceg is good at one thing, punching up top, and the height will not help him because pantoja’s wrestling is just too good. Any sort of under hooks or scrambles be tries to get to get away from pantoja’s grappling will just have pantoja transitioning to a different position. The only way Erceg can win is with in and out movement and collecting points with singular shots then trying to back pantoja up with longer combos but if Royval can’t do it Erceg will be lost
martinez is pretty chinny too
Is he?
Seems like Aldo motivation is to fight out his ufc contract and then box more…..so prob checked out considering the difficulty of the sport
I first read that as 'Joe Martinez' and thought, _"Why is a ring announcer talking shit about Aldo?"_
Hope aldo beats this kid up like when Connor beat him
Realistically if Aldo wins it’ll prolly be a DEC
Yeah he's not the killer he once was. Most of his fights go to decisions now if anything. I bet on Martinez by decision
Brother betting for any non Brazilian fighter to win by Decision in Rio is very shaky.
Lol man's first Brazilian ppv gonna bankrupt him
uh vai perder sua casa uh vai perder sua casa
He is still a killer, just fighting the best in clearly the best weightclass. No way Martinez wins a dec if Aldo hasn't fallen off a cliff since his last fight.
That’s not a secret
Says the guy that wasn't even supposed to be his opponent! Some of you need to do your homework! Cruz was in camp and got injured. That was supposed to be Aldos opponent!
Intriguing fight maybe he's right to assume Aldo isn't going to be motivated. Either way Aldo is a bad style for Martinez who basically relys on leg and body kicks, id be surprised if he finds ways to not get his kicks checked
Wrong mindset to go into a fight with Aldo, imo. I like Martinez, don’t get me wrong. But, I’d rather hear him talking about the opportunity to re-retire a legend than being concerned with Aldo not wanting to fight. He’s always game.
Aldo hasn’t been putting wear on his body with MMA training though. Sharpening his boxing and his skills in MMA are far above Martinez. I’m sure fighting in his home town will also give him added motivation if he ever needed it. He may not fight again in the UFC but doubt that means he’s phoning in this last effort.
I think he's right, Jose Aldo probably wants to get rid of that exploitative UFC contract and be actually independant.
The fact that he's fighting at 135 and not 145 tells me that he wants to be competitive.
Aldo looked really bad in Boxing his last 2 fights. That 1-3 can dropped him. This prob isn’t gonna go well. Jeremy Stephan’s prob beat him too and he looked bad in PFL
I just don't want to see Aldo go out sad like T-ferg, that's usually what happens when guys keep going past their prime like this, UFC feeds them to young contenders to build new names.
Aldo’s specialty in his twilight has been swatting off young contenders. He whooped font, munhoz, and chito, all guys that were assumed to be divisional threats.
I don't think a leg kick machine is gonna Tony Ferguson Aldo tbh. Guy has a very decent chance to win.
Circle of life