This past weekend at UFC Vegas 44, we saw a big time main event in the bantamweight division. Former featherweight champion Jose Aldo (31-7) took on surging contender Rob Font (19-5). Whoever won this matchup was going to be in an excellent spot at 135.
Rob Font opened the fight with a ton of pressure to try and gas out Aldo. Aldo remained composed throughout, but it didn’t look great at the start of the fight. In previewing this fight, I thought the big advantage for Aldo would be in the power.
However, he didn’t have room to use that power early on. Then, near the end of the first round, the power was on display. Aldo dropped Font late in the opening frame and that set the tone for the rest of the fight.
Throughout the five rounds, Font would look great but big power shots from Aldo would completely swing the round in the former champion’s favor. This was the theme throughout and in the end, the judges gave Aldo a near sweep of the scorecards at UFC Vegas 44.
What’s next after UFC Vegas 44?
There’s no question that Jose Aldo should be near the top of the UFC’s bantamweight rankings when the rankings are updated this week. He should be back in the title conversation after three consecutive wins against top contenders.
Currently, we are in a bit of a waiting pattern at the top of the division. The champion Aljamain Sterling will be taking on the interim champion Petr Yan sometime in the spring. However, there’s still not a finalized date for that title fight.
TJ Dillashaw (17-4) was supposed to get a title fight after his win against Cory Sandhagen, however, a knee injury completely threw that off. Now with this title unification bout pending, Dillashaw needs an opponent as does Aldo.
The writing is on the wall for the UFC. There is no better fight to make than Jose Aldo against TJ Dillashaw. Whoever wins would be the clear number one contender. My guess is that the promotion makes this a Fight Night main event sometime around the Yan and Sterling fight.