VIDEO | Jose Aldo Looking Razor Sharp in Training
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Interim featherweight champion Jose Aldo is still an absolute monster. The video above – which shows the Brazilian great smashing mitts with Emerson Falcao – is all the proof of that statement you need.
As deadly as Aldo looks in training, however, we currently don’t know who he’s training for.
In Aldo’s perfectly imagined world, his next fight would almost certainly be a rematch with undisputed featherweight champion Conor McGregor, who he lost the title to in just 13 seconds last December. Because McGregor seems to be closing in on a lightweight title fight with divisional kingpin Eddie Alvarez, however, Aldo’s first opponent as interim featherweight champion will probably be somebody else.
If McGregor doesn’t return to featherweight, Aldo’s contingency plan seems to be a bout with former lightweight champion Anthony Pettis. After three straight losses in the lightweight division, Pettis recently made a successful drop to featherweight, tapping submission specialist Charles Oliveira on the main card of UFC on Fox 21. Because Aldo and Pettis were scheduled to fight several years ago, during their respective reigns as undisputed champions, they’ve got plenty of history together. Yet Pettis can hardly be argued to be the featherweight division’s number-one-contender. That honor, instead, rests solely with Hawaii’s Max Holloway, who recently went off on Aldo for requesting a fight with Pettis.
Holloway, after all, is currently riding high on a ridiculous, nine-fight streak, which includes triumphs over game opposition such as Cub Swanson, Jeremy Stephens and Ricardo Lamas. From a rankings standpoint, nobody deserves a featherweight title shot more than he does. These days, of course, money fights seem to be taking priority over fights based on rankings and win-streaks, so it’s entirely possible that Holloway finds himself left in cold.
Whoever Aldo ends up fighting next, however, better be good and ready, as the video above flaunts the interim champion’s razor-sharp technique and sniper focus.
Who do you want to see Jose Aldo fight next? Sound off, PENN nation!