Jose Aldo knows exactly who he wants to fight next after beating Pedro Munhoz in the UFC 265 co-main event.
Aldo (30-7 MMA, 12-6 UFC), a former UFC featherweight champion, improved to 2-2 since dropping to bantamweight when he earned an impressive unanimous decision win over Munhoz (19-6 MMA, 19-6 UFC) on Saturday’s card at the Toyota Center in Houston.
It’s Aldo’s mission to add the 135-pound belt to his resume, and he thinks a fight with former champion T.J. Dillashaw (17-4 MMA, 13-4 UFC), who returned from his USADA suspension to earn a split decision win over Cory Sandhagen at UFC on ESPN 27 in July, in would be the perfect gateway to making that happen.
“It would be great for me to fight with Dillashaw,” Aldo told MMA Junkie and other reporters through an interpreter at the UFC 265 post-fight news conference. “Hopefully by December. I think it would be a great fight and that’s what we expect. That’s what I’m expecting right now.”
Aldo’s performance against Munhoz showed he’s still absolutely elite in the fight game, despite being 34 years old. He was too slick on the feet for Munhoz, and won a clean sweep on the scorecards to get his hand raised.
Despite all his experience, Aldo said it’s important to him to display growth in his skillset. He’s already had once chance at the bantamweight title, and suffered a fifth-round TKO loss to then-champ Petr Yan.
The Brazilian said he knows he needs to be better if he wants to make good on his goal, and said a convincing win over Munhoz is a promising start.
“After I lost the (title) fight I felt like I had to incorporate new things into my repertoire and that’s what I did,” Aldo said. “I got into Navy sponsored boxing in Brazil and that’s how I got better with my punches.
“(Munhoz is a) great fighter and I understood it was going to be a tough fight and a brawl pretty much. I knew this was going to happen. It wasn’t frustrating (that I couldn’t finish him). I knew it was going to happen.”
Jose Aldo expects T.J. Dillashaw next after UFC 265: ‘Hopefully by December’