Irene Aldana praised by UFC president Dana White: ‘We love her’

UFC president Dana White praised surging bantamweight contender Irene Aldana after a brilliant performance on the preliminary card at UFC 245.

In one of the most memorable fights on the prelims, Aldana connected on a vicious left hook to drop her opponent Ketlen Vieira and pick up the biggest win of her UFC career to date. With the victory, Aldana has now won five of her last six fights overall and she could be in line to fight UFC women’s bantamweight champion, Amanda Nunes, for the belt in short order.

Speaking to reporters following the conclusion of UFC 245, White praised Aldana’s performance against Vieira and said that the UFC matchmakers are big fans of her fighting style.

“How about Irene? How come no one asked me about Irene? Come on! (Ketlen Vieira is) one of the top-five women in the world, one of the hottest prospects of the last several years, blows out her ACL, is out for a year and Aldana knocks her out. And she is probably one of the sweetest people you could ever meet. Hardworking and a really good human being, so it’s really cool to see good things happen to good people,” White said.

“She looked good. She looked so good tonight and she beat a top-five girl. Let’s see where you guys end up ranking her next week and we’ll see what’s next. We love her. We love Aldana. She’s an absolute sweetheart, a grinder, a hard worker. We’ll see what’s next.”

The win over Vieira improved Aldana’s MMA record to 12-5 and she now has a 5-3 overall record in the UFC. This is the kind of win that she needed to show that she’s ready for the next step in competition, and it’s possible a title shot could be in her future.

Do you think Irene Aldana has done enough to warrant a title shot against UFC women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes?