It’s problematic enough for Dana White when he finds one fighter missing weight ahead of a scheduled fight. But UFC 315 was certainly a rare moment because two fighters, pitted against each other no less, missed weight. Former 2-time featherweight champion Jose Aldo, had to fight Aiemann Zahabi at 135 pounds, and missed weight by a staggering 7 pounds. This was the first time he did so in his entire professional fighting career.

When Jose Aldo returned to the UFC last year, he decided to compete in a weight class below his natural one, but his first matchup back was a loss. Now, in his quest to get back to his winning ways, not only did the 37-year-old miss the official weight by 7 pounds, but his opponent, Aiemann Zahabi, one-upped the former 2-time 145-lb champion and weighed in 8 lbs over the weight limit.

With way less time left for UFC 315 to start, Dana White was running out of options. So, what does he do? The UFC CEO decided to keep the fight on the card, but he did not deem it a catchweight bout. We all know how much the 55-year-old hates catchweight bouts since they don’t really mean anything. The only option that White saw fit was to put Aldo and Zahabi in a featherweight bout.

UFC 315 will mark the Hall of Famer’s return to the featherweight division after six years. While Jose Aldo might be disappointed with himself for missing weight ahead of this weekend’s clash, a fellow featherweight legend and a relative newcomer in the UFC, Patricio Pitbull, seemed excited about the prospect of witnessing ‘Junior’ back in action as a 145-er. On that note, he shared a welcome message to the former 2-time champion.

“Welcome back to the Featherweight division [Jose Aldo]. That’s the division you belong to,” Pitbull wrote on X. Maybe one day we could see these two legends fight inside the Octagon, which could generate quite the interest among fans, especially the Brazilians.

Well, we are still not sure what this fight at featherweight will do for Jose Aldo. After all, he’s been gunning for the bantamweight title. Nonetheless, the fact that Aldo couldn’t make it to 135 lbs is really surprising because he previously claimed it to be a pretty “easy” thing to do.

Jose Aldo’s comments about cutting down to 135 were positive in the beginning

It was certainly different to see Jose Aldo cut down to the bantamweight division back in 2019, when he fought Marlon Moraes, but lost the fight. Did the weight cut affect his performance? Well, the fight was close, and Moraes edged past via a split decision, so it seems like the weight cut had nothing to do with it. Rather, Aldo, prior to the fight, claimed to have had no issues in going down to 135, and since then, he’s been competing in that weight class up until this weekend’s showdown.

Furthermore, Jose Aldo even reminisced about his days fighting under the World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) banner, but he never competed there as a bantamweight. He was actually talking about the physical change, as he claimed that cutting down to 135 pounds made him feel like the time when he started out fighting.

“It [Cutting down to 135] was pretty easy. For the first time in my life I feel like when I first arrived in the WEC again. Fast and skilled. I think that’s how I’ll arrive at my new weight,” said Aldo in 2019. That might have been the reason why he’s continued to fight as a bantamweight. But now, it remains to be seen how he does as a featherweight after six years. Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.