Aldo Bested Yan In Sparring, Will Win By ‘Second-Round KO’ At UFC 251

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo will have another chance to hoist promotional gold when he fights Petr Yan for the vacant UFC bantamweight title at UFC 251 on July 11 from “Fight Island” in Abu Dhabi. The bout came together after former 135-pound king Henry Cejudo announced his retirement from MMA last month.

While Aldo is not the same fighter he once was when he dominated the UFC’s featherweight division for years, the Brazilian legend is still a suitable title contender in 2020. Aldo may have skipped the line a bit, but his bantamweight debut against Marlon Moraes back in December proved he can handle the division’s best.

Some fight fans may think that Aldo, 33, is going to be outmatched against a rising star like Yan when the two clash in less than one month, but Aldo’s training partner at Nova Uniao, Eduardo Dantas, believes the outcome will be different.

That’s because Dantas was front row for when Yan trained at Nova Uniao back in 2016. Aldo was getting ready for his rematch with Frankie Edgar at UFC 200 at the time and Dantas was preparing for a 135-pound title fight in Bellator. Both Brazilians got to witness Yan’s abilities up close and personal.

“He trained a lot with us, especially me, because we’re both bantamweights,” Dantas told MMA Fighting. “He trained boxing and kickboxing, I haven’t seen him do much of ground game in the gym, but this kid always showed a lot of heart. He came from a different team, a different country, didn’t speak our language, but came here and put on great training sessions. He was always there to train, always available.”

Dantas, who has trained alongside Aldo for years, doesn’t believe there is much of a comparison when it comes to the striking of the former UFC champion and Yan. While Yan possesses scary power and incredible instincts on the feet it is Aldo who is the more decorated striker in MMA. One who has bewildered some of the very best featherweights of all time.

“Based on the training I had with Yan and Aldo — we’re obviously in a different time now, four years later — you can’t compete them technically,” Dantas said. “I’ve seen so-called specialists say that Yan’s boxing and kickboxing are better than Junior’s. I think that’s a huge mistake because if you really analyse their boxing, it’s completely different.

“If you stop and look at the strikers they have fought, it’s completely different. If Yan fought one guy that is tough on the feet, that’s already too much. You can’t compare. Yan might be younger, he’s coming fully motivated, he trains really hard, but you can’t compare them technique-wise. To me, Junior is way more complete.

“And about (them) training (together), you probably already know how it must have gone, right? Not to mention that Aldo was way heavier and way stronger. Yan weighed around 148 pounds when he came here, he was always skinny. You can’t compare.”

The sparring sessions between Aldo and Yan may have happened over four years ago, but Dantas still believes “Junior” has the upper hand. Yan has certainly gotten better and more polished over the years, but Aldo’s experience may end up coming into play.

“You can’t compare how it was four years ago because Junior was on another level and Yan was still growing,” Dantas said. “You see Yan rising today, he has six UFC fights and won them all, always winning and getting better, but I’m sure that Aldo’s level of boxing can’t compare to Yan’s — and people will see it on July 11.”

Assuming we can get to UFC 251 without any unexpected withdrawals, Aldo will have another opportunity to capture UFC gold, this time in an entirely new division. Dantas understands the dangers that Yan will bring to the bantamweight title fight, but he’s predicting a finish for Aldo based off of knowledge of the two fighters.

“It’s a good matchup because Yan and Aldo move forward the whole time,” Dantas said. “My hunch is Junior knocks him out in the second round. If he doesn’t knock him out, it would be five rounds of suffering for Yan, getting beat up a lot. Of course that Yan has great cardio and Junior is rising… If I had to guess, I’d bet on Junior by second-round knockout.

“(Aldo) stayed unbeaten for 10 years, taking everyone down at featherweight with a really bad diet. He’s on a diet for the first time of his life now at bantamweight. He’s training more focused and eating way healthier. He went from water into wine. I’m not saying this because I’m his friend, I say this based on what I see in training, his cardio and his technique. It’s his destiny, he will be the bantamweight champion.”

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