Forward of UFC 307, Jose Aldo’s championship flame burns brighter than ever

SALT LAKE CITY – Jose Aldo walked away from combined 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 last struggle two years prior. Saturday at UFC 307, Aldo (32-8 MMA, 14-7 UFC) battles Mario Bautista on the pay-per-view major card at Delta Heart.

Regardless of his earlier retirement, Aldo mentioned the championship flame burns greater and brighter than ever inside him.

“I practice 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 achieved every little thing. He’s carried out every little 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 best featherweight in MMA historical past. So what’s there left to show? What’s the motivation?

For Aldo, being a champion just isn’t 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 practice 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 if you happen to really 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 Could, Aldo regarded sharp when he defeated Jonathan Martinez by unanimous resolution. Saturday’s struggle vs. Bautista (14-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC) marks the second in a row the place Aldo, the a lot greater title, examined himself in opposition to a rising younger contender.

However that’s what that is to Aldo: it’s an enormous 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 feel 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 objective.”

Aldo’s first plan of action will probably 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 any person 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.”

For extra on the cardboard, go to MMA Junkie’s occasion hub for UFC 307.