Junior dos Santos Says Jose Aldo Is Number One P4P, Not Jon Jones
Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos is slated to make a return from is 2013 loss to Cain Velasquez, as he is set to face Stipe Miocic at The Ultimate Fighter Brasil 3 finals. ‘Cigano’ dropped a nasty TKO to CV in their rubber match for the title, ending a trilogy that dos Santos came out of at 1-2.
Currently training out of Nova Uniao, ‘Cigano’ will look to get his title hopes back on track with the help of friend and training partner Jose Aldo. The 145-pound king has been dominating his division for years; so much so, that JDS feels he is the number one fighter on the planet right now. Check out what dos Santos had to say when questioned by MMAFighting about who he thinks is the number one pound-for-pound fighter:
“There are a lot of great fighters right now. It’s complicated, but I’ll choose Jose Aldo,” dos Santos said in chat with the fans on Tuesday. “It’s not because I’m at Nova Uniao now. I’d have answered this question the same way before.”
Jon Jones is the official number one at the moment, and he sits one spot above ‘Scarface’ in the rankings. The debate is not a new one, and nor will it be settled here, but ‘Cigano’ expands on the reasoning behind his statements:
“It’s impressive what Aldo has done in his division,” dos Santos said. “I know that a lot of people are talking about Jon Jones, and he really is a phenom, he’s really good, but Aldo is at the top and defending his title for a lot longer. Jose Aldo is the man right now.”
Coming off a dominant five round decision win over Ricardo Lamas at UFC 169, there isn’t a top five featherweight right now that Aldo hasn’t beaten. The only viable options now would be to either offer him an opponent out of the top 10, offer him an opponent he has previously beaten, or make him wait for a contender to emerge.
Perhaps the option of moving up in weigh would actually make more sense right now, but Anthony Pettis will not be available to fight Aldo until mid-2015. I find it hard to think that Aldo would not be the best fighter alive if he won the lightweight title, becoming a two-weight world champion, but the option is not there with ‘Showtime’ set to face Gilbert Melendez.
What do you think is the right move for Aldo to make next?
