Mario Bautista puts blame on Jose Aldo for lackluster UFC 307 fight, eyes Cory Sandhagen rematch

Mario Bautista knew getting past Jose Aldo would be tough, and he did what he needed to do to win.

Bautista edged out a split decision win over Aldo at UFC 307 in what was considered by many to be a lackluster fight. Heading into the bout, the wrestling and clinch weren’t part of Bautista’s game plan until it was there for him to use.

“It wasn’t a huge game plan, but in my mind, I thought I had to keep attempting. I thought he’d brush off the takedowns, but once I got him to the cage, he just stayed there,” Bautista said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “It was like, okay I got in but he didn’t get out. The fight just turned into that, I wasn’t planning on holding him there, it’s more that he didn’t have urgency to get off…

“It is on Aldo, it’s crazy that someone on his level does that, that is something I learned. If I get stuck on the cage, I get yelled at to get off the cage. It’s just weird. It turned into a weird fight,” Bautista added.

As Mario Bautista says, Jose Aldo didn’t have any urgency to get off the cage, which he says made it a boring fight.

Mario Bautista eyes Cory Sandhagen rematch

But, when the final bell rang at UFC 307, Bautista was confident he did enough to get his hand raised.

“I felt like I won, I knew I had the first, he caught me with a good knee, cut me,” Bautista said. “I knew I won the fight, but I didn’t know how the judges were going to react to the booing. It got weird there… Once they say split, it’s a toss-up, we will see what happens. Luckily it did go my way.”

Although Bautista got the win, which was the biggest win of his career, he says he is frustrated with the performance. He felt like he could have done more but is happy he got the win.

“I know I could be happier with it, but it’s the way the fight played out,” Bautista said. “I can’t control what he does, it could have been a more exciting fight if he circled off and forced us to strike, but he couldn’t do that. If I could go back, I would do things differently, but you live and learn.”

With Bautista getting the win, he is hoping to return in early 2025. One fight that does intrigue him is the rematch with Cory Sandhagen, but Bautista wants anyone ranked ahead of him.

“I would like that Sandhagen fight, but anyone who is in front of me, I would take,” Bautista concluded.