Jose Aldo vs. Marlon Moraes bantamweight bout in the works for UFC 245

Jose Aldo is on the verge of making his bantamweight debut.

A fight between the former longtime UFC featherweight champion Aldo (28-5 MMA, 10-4 UFC) and recent 135-pound title challenger Marlon Moraes (22-6-1 MMA, 4-2 UFC) is in the works for UFC 245, according to two people familiar with the matter but not authorized to discuss it publicly. One person said Moraes has accepted the bout.

UFC 245 takes place Dec. 14 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass.

In August, Aldo began expressing interest in a move down to bantamweight. Moraes said earlier this month that he would like to welcome his fellow Brazilian to the division.

Aldo’s venture at 135 pounds comes after a unanimous decision loss to Alexander Volkanovski in May at UFC 237 on home soil in Brazil. It will be his third fight of 2019. Aldo also defeated Renato Moicano by TKO back in February.

Moraes, meanwhile, failed to claim the vacant bantamweight title in his most recent fight, losing by third-round TKO to current champ Henry Cejudo. Prior to that, Moraes had earned his title shot on the strength of a four-fight winning streak.

The latest UFC 245 lineup now includes:

• Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington – for welterweight title
• Max Holloway vs. Alexander Volkanovski – for featherweight title
• Amanda Nunes vs. Germaine de Randamie – for women’s bantamweight title
• Jose Aldo vs. Marlon Moraes
• Urijah Faber vs. Petr Yan
• Matt Brown vs. Ben Saunders
• Jessica Eye vs. Viviane Araujo
• Kai Kara-France vs. Brandon Moreno
• Oskar Piechota vs. Punahele Soriano