The UFC is currently working on booking a massive fight in the bantamweight division. Ariel Helwani reported this afternoon that the promotion was inching towards booking a matchup between former featherweight king Jose Aldo (31-7) and Merab Dvalishvili (14-4).
Per Helwani, the fight is not finalized yet, but it’s currently being targeted for UFC 278 on August 20th. For the sake of this article, we are going to make the assumption that the promotion gets through the final hurdles and the fight gets booked.
Before getting into what this means for either fight, this also likely means that TJ Dillashaw will in fact be fighting Aljamain Sterling next. There was talk regarding Aldo getting the title shot, but Aldo fighting Dvalishvili all but secures it for Dillashaw.
Back to the fighters, this is a massive opportunity for Merab Dvalishvili. Dvalishvili is currently riding a seven-fight winning streak. The last time we saw him was at UFC 266 when he stopped Marlon Moraes.
It was a dicey fight for Dvalishvili as he was nearly finished in the first round. However, he showed great resolve and toughness as he survived the first round. Then, he completely dominated the second round to get the finish. Aldo is the toughest opponent of his career and it will tell us a lot about Dvalishvili.
One more UFC title run for Aldo?
After an incredibly successful run in the UFC’s featherweight division, Jose Aldo dropped down to 135 back in 2019. In his first fight with Marlon Moraes, he lost by split decision, however, the majority of people believe he won the fight.
Henry Cejudo was the champion at the time and he was so convinced Aldo won that he wanted to give Aldo a title shot. Despite Cejudo retiring, the UFC held true to their word and Aldo got a shot at the vacant title against Petr Yan.
Aldo looked good in spots, but was outmatched by Yan who stopped him in the fifth round. Since then, Aldo has gone on an impressive winning streak that has included wins over Chito Vera, Pedro Munhoz, and most recently, Rob Font.
After the Font win, Aldo made it clear he wanted a title shot. However, the UFC was always leaning towards Dillashaw for that shot. That being said, if Aldo wins against Dvalishvili in August, there is no denying him. He will fight the winner of Aljamain Sterling – TJ Dillashaw.