Aldo (photo via Twitter)

By FCF Staff

When Jose Aldo first announced his intention to move down to bantamweight, there was no shortage of concern voiced throughout the MMA world. But, as the former featherweight champ gets set to compete in his second bout at 135 pounds, the legend continues to say it was the right move.

After Aldo was defeated by now current, featherweight champ, Alexander Volkanovski in May, 2019, he announced he was moving to 135. Since for years there was talk about Aldo moving up to lightweight, rather than down, there was widespread skepticism about the decision.

But, in Aldo’s first bout at 135 in December, he narrowly defeated top contender, Marlon Moraes. In fact, because many people scored the fight for Aldo, including UFC President Dana White, he’s facing Petr Yan for the vacant bantamweight title on July 11th.

Recently the 33-year-old spoke with ESPN, and Aldo reported that he in fact, feels better competing at bantamweight (quotes via MMA Junkie).

“These two days here in Sao Paulo are definitely gonna get in the way of my weight cut a little bit,” Aldo said. “But I bought a rope to jump, and I’m gonna go in the jacuzzi in the room or whatever. I’m gonna be able to stay active, but I’m happy to be a part of this, and the cut for 135 has actually been a lot easier than it was at 145.”

“We adapted everything for me to move down in weight so my nutrition and everything else, and I really feel like I rejuvenated my body,” Aldo said. “It gave me a lot of energy, so I’m keeping my weight down more than I was before, and so that cut down to 135, I’m still feeling a lot better after that cut.”

Aldo’s (28-6) last win took place in February, 2019, when he stopped Renato Carneiro in round two. Yan (14-1), meanwhile, is coming off a stoppage win over Urijah Faber in December.