Return of the King! Jose Aldo will make his UFC return in his home country of Brazil ending a two-year absence. The former featherweight champion of the world had to step away from the UFC after he lost to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 278 in August 2022. But now, the man who had an 18-fight win streak from 2006 to 2015 is set to be on the match card for UFC 301 on May 4 against a formidable opponent.

‘Junior’ who was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame last year alongside Anderson Silva is coming back to the octagon after venturing out into boxing for a brief period of time. MMA Orbit posted the news of Aldo’s return on X with the caption “THE KING OF RIO IS BACK IN RIO.” The post also revealed his opponent, American fighter- Jonathan Martinez. The news was first confirmed by AGFight.

Aldo dominated the featherweight division until he fell victim to the mind games of ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor at UFC 194. But he bounced back strongly winning the featherweight title against Frankie Edgar at UFC 200 in 2016. However, his career briefly nose-dived after consecutive defeats to Max Holloway and three losses in a row to Alexander Volkanovski, Marlon Moraes, and Petr Yan.

He then went on a three-fight winning streak before his unanimous decision loss against Dvalishvili led him to retirement and swap UFC gloves for boxing ones. Aldo had a record of 13-7 UFC at the time of his retirement. He fought in boxing rings for three separate fights and even went up against former opponent Jeremy Stephens in Jorge Masvidal‘s Gamebred Boxing 4 on April 2023. But now the ‘King of Rio’ is back and headed to action on May 4.

All thanks to the fact that he was still under the promotion’s contract after retiring. If Aldo secures a win against Martinez, perhaps he has an interesting future and a potential title fight after Dvalishvili. But Martinez will be a tough challenge given his recent run in the octagon.

An opponent who has the kick

Jose Aldo packs a punch and everybody who has followed his career knows this by now. The fighter has dominated many with his high IQ moves and strikes in the past but his new opponent, Jonathan Martinez is no different either. Relatively younger than him, Martinez entered the UFC in 2018.

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The fighter has a UFC record of 10-3 and is on a six-fight win streak. Interestingly Martinez has two leg-kick TKOs on his record. Now those are rare and perhaps they could be a problem for Jose Aldo coming back into the cage after fighting in the ring where he is restricted to only using his hands. A UFC return in Brazil is Aldo’s dream scenario but he has a challenge on his hands.

Will Aldo have the perfect UFC return in his backyard or will Martinez ruin the homecoming?

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