SALT LAKE CITY – Jose Aldo walked away from blended martial arts as a legend of the sport in September 2022 when he determined to retire.
Quick ahead and Aldo is ready to compete in the identical constructing that housed what appeared like his ultimate struggle two years prior. Saturday at UFC 307, Aldo (32-8 MMA, 14-7 UFC) battles Mario Bautista on the pay-per-view fundamental card at Delta Middle.
Regardless of his earlier retirement, Aldo mentioned the championship flame burns larger and brighter than ever inside him.
“I prepare a lot, you don’t perceive,” Aldo informed MMA Junkie and different reporters at a pre-fight information convention Wednesday. “Each single up-and-comer, all the brand new children there, they take a look at me like, ‘This dude has completed every thing. He’s carried out every thing and he’s nonetheless giving his all, coaching like loopy.’ It’s. It’s one other fighter that’s ignited. There’s a flame that’s burning brighter than earlier than. That’s what it takes to be a champion.”
Aldo, 38, is taken into account by many to be the consensus biggest featherweight in MMA historical past. So what’s there left to show? What’s the motivation?
For Aldo, being a champion shouldn’t be the ultimate degree of greatness.
“Being the champion is being a champion,” Aldo mentioned. “It’s a legacy. It’s having the ability to look again. That’s why I prepare so onerous. That’s why I preserve at it. That’s the hearth I wish to present folks. It’s the UFC testing me. They’re making an attempt to see you show your self once more and see in case you actually need it. How a lot would you like it? I would like to have the ability to flip again and look again and say, ‘That is the legacy that I left.”
In his return struggle in Might, Aldo seemed sharp when he defeated Jonathan Martinez by unanimous determination. Saturday’s struggle vs. Bautista (14-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC) marks the second in a row the place Aldo, the a lot larger title, examined himself towards a rising younger contender.
However that’s what that is to Aldo: it’s a giant check. In his thoughts, the UFC needs to see the place he’s at with every problem, and it’s his job to point out them he’s nonetheless the championship-caliber fighter he was years in the past.
“They’re asking me for proof,” Aldo mentioned. “They’re asking me to show myself. I do know for them they’re simply placing them to see what’s occurring. However I believe for me, similar to for instance, just like the final struggle, simply to show how a lot I actually wish to come again. How a lot did I would like that struggle, proper? So proper now, I do know for them, it’s a degree. However for me, it’s one other step towards an final purpose.”
Aldo’s first plan of action will likely be to win. After that, “The King of Rio” hopes the promotion will view him as title-shot worthy.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s Mario developing, if it’s a champion, if it’s anyone on prime of the rankings, it doesn’t matter,” Aldo mentioned. “It’s one other step towards the one factor I would like. It’s a title shot.”
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