Khabib Nurmagomedov not convinced Jose Aldo is having a UFC career revival

Former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov is not convinced that MMA legend Jose Aldo is having a UFC career revival at age 34.

After losing three straight fights to Alexander Volkanovski, Marlon Moraes, and Petr Yan in 2019 and 2020, there were many observers of the sport who felt that “Junior” was on the decline in his career. However, to the astonishment of many, Aldo has bounced back from those three losses with back-to-back wins over top bantamweight contenders Pedro Munhoz and Marlon Vera. It’s why Aldo is now back to wanting a title fight down at 135lbs.

If you ask Nurmagomedov, however, Aldo isn’t showing him enough to make him believe that he is ‘back.’ Speaking to RT Sport, the Russian criticized Aldo, suggesting that he isn’t fighting top-level opponents and that until he beats an elite fighter, we can’t say he’s back.

“How is he showing it? He got beat up when he fought … Petr, right? A guy wins one fight and everyone starts talking. When Conor (McGregor) fought (Donald) ‘Cowboy’ (Cerrone), he looked like a lion. When he fights stronger opponents, he looks like a scared chicken. Fighting top fighters shows your worth. The level of Russia’s football team will be shown against Croatia, not Malta,” Nurmagomedov said (h/t MMAjunkie.com).

“A fight against ‘Cowboy’ won’t show what level you’re at, just like Aldo’s fight against Pedro Munhoz. Let him fight Petr the same way. Then we can say he’s peaking again. You saw what he did. He closed up and waited for the ref to stop the fight. That shows that you’re not at your peak. If you’re getting hit and you’re conscious and you’re not defending yourself, I call those fighters businessmen. They come out to make money.”

Do you agree with the criticism that Khabib Nurmagomedov has for Jose Aldo?