Jose Aldo Expected To Face Petr Yan For Vacant Bantamweight Strap
Before Henry Cejudo retired from MMA, Jose Aldo was expected to face him for the title. Now that this can not happen, he will be facing a top contender for the vacant belt instead.
To be honest, there was never a huge desire to see Aldo fight Cejudo for the title. He only had one fight since moving down in weight, and it was a bout he lost. Nevertheless there was a certain level of understanding, given the legendary status of the former featherweight king.
However once Cejudo defended his title against Dominick Cruz and retired, there was the thought that two of the deserving contenders at 135lb would fight for the newly vacant title. Nevertheless, according to Dana White, it seems Jose Aldo will still be fighting for the strap in his next fight. Only this time, it seems it will be against number three ranked contender Petr Yan.
“White: Cejudo has retired. We’re talking right now about Petr Yan vs. Jose Aldo for the vacant title. We don’t have a date or a place set yet.”
White: Cejudo has retired. We’re talking right now about Petr Yan vs. Jose Aldo for the vacant title. We don’t have a date or a place set yet.
— Marc Raimondi (@marcraimondi) May 27, 2020
As of right now the bout is not official, and no date has been named. However the other two top bantamweight contenders, Aljamain Sterling and Cory Sandhagen will be facing off at UFC 250, so hopefully this bout will take place around that time.
Jose Aldo is a legend in the sport, and is deserving of a ton of praise. Yet it is hard find a valid reason he should be getting a title shot. Hopefully whoever wins this title will start defending it against rightful contenders, so the bantamweight division can get back to a normal queue.
