Three possible lightweight matchups for Jose Aldo
Jose Aldo proved to be the best featherweight fighter on the planet for nearly a decade. The Nova Uniao product was the UFC’s inaugural featherweight champion and also the former WEC featherweight champion.
From 2006 to 2015, Jose Aldo strung together an incredible eighteen-fight win streak. During that time he beat the likes of Hall-of-Famer Urijah Faber, Chad Mendes, Frankie Edgar and Ricardo Lamas, the who’s who of the UFC’s featherweight division.
However, after that stretch, Jose Aldo suffered a shocking 13-second knockout to Conor McGregor at UFC 194 in 2015.
Since then, Aldo has gone 2-2, suffering two TKO losses to current UFC featherweight titleholder Max Holloway.
In his most recent effort, Jose Aldo scored a first-round TKO victory over Jeremy Stephens at July’s UFC on FOX event in Calgary.
Even after all he has accomplished at featherweight, Jose Aldo knows that another title shot will be hard to come by as long as Max Holloway remains champion. Due to that, Aldo recently expressed his interest in a potential move up to lightweight, with his eyes set on UFC 231 in Toronto.
With that in mind, here are three possible lightweight matchups for the former champ.
Justin Gaethje
Justin Gaethje vs. Aldo is a fight a lot of fight fans would love to see. Whenever Gaethje fights, there is a good chance it will be a fight of the night contender, and possible fight of the year. Aldo had a very entertaining fight in his last effort against Jeremy Stephens where the pair stood in the pocket and traded blows until a body shot from Aldo sent “Lil Heathen” to the canvas. Imagine that same fight with Gaethje instead of Stephens, it would be one for the ages.
Looking past Gaethje’s excitement, why this fight makes sense is simple. Gaethje recently just fought on August 25th where he won by first-round knockout. With the win, Gaethje got back on track after two straight losses, and also didn’t take much damage. So a return to the octagon in December makes sense.
A win over Gaethje would put Aldo in the title picture at lightweight.
