Mario Bautista will look to do something many rising contenders have failed to do against Jose Aldo.
Bautista (14-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC) takes on former champion and UFC Hall of Famer Aldo (32-8 MMA, 14-7 UFC) at UFC 307, which takes place Oct. 5 at Delta Center in Salt Lake City (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+).
Aldo has won four of his past five, with his lone loss in that stretch coming to current title challenger Merab Dvalishvili. “The King of Rio” has only been stopped once at bantamweight, but Bautista thinks he could trouble him with pressure.
“I just see it being a high-paced fight,” Bautista told Middle Easy. “He’s hard to finish, but I think he can crack mentally. All those losses he’s had recently, those guys put a high pace on him, and that’s something I’ve got to emulate.”
Bautista initially called out Rob Font after he defeated Ricky Simon in January. He’s grateful to be rewarded with an even bigger fight against Aldo.
“Definitely a win over Aldo is better than Rob Font,” Bautista said. “It’s a tougher fight, too – everything that Aldo’s done through this sport, and he’s still trying to do it, you know? A win over him definitely shoots me up there and puts a little bit more shine on me.”
Bautista has quietly won six fights in a row. He respects Aldo for his willingness to fight another rising contender after he rebounded with a win over Jonathan Martinez at UFC 301.
“I have the second most straight wins behind Merab,” Bautista said. “So it’s nice that they’re seeing that, and they actually gave me that opportunity because it’s Aldo. He could have went a whole different route in saying, ‘No, no, I’m not going to fight these young guys. I’m going to fight someone like Dominick Cruz. I’m going to fight a Henry Cejudo.’ You know, those opportunities. So for me to get this fight, I’m super excited about it.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.
