Former featherweight champion, Jose Aldo made his bantamweight debut against Marlon Moraes in the T-Mobiel arena at UFC 245. There were a lot of speculations going into the fight. Aldo struggled to make weight for the featherweight division on a few occasions. Hence him moving to bantamweight did raise a few questions. Whether he would be able to make weight for the fight and even if he does whether Aldo will be at his best at 135.
Well, all the questions have been answered as Aldo looked better than he has ever been in recent times even after the tough weight cut. He put a valiant effort against one of the best in the division, Marlon Moraes. Some would even say that Aldo did enough to win the fight against Moraes. However, the judges disagreed with that notion as Moraes won the fight via split decision.
The first round was pretty even. Both Aldo and Moraes landed some heavy shots and scored 12 significant strikes each. Aldo was always moving forward controlling the octagon. But at the final moments of round 1, Moraes scored a huge takedown that might have played a crucial role in the outcome of the fight.
In the second round, Aldo dominated Moraes. He went to the body, he was pushing forward, and he defended most of the thing Moraes had to offer. It seemed Moraes was gassed out again. However, that was not the case as Moraes made a comeback in the final minutes of round 3. Moraes landed some huge strikes during the final seconds on Aldo. Though Aldo was leading with respect to the number of significant strikes, it was a close fight. In the end, the judges scored the fight in favor of Marlon Moraes.
Despite the loss, Jose Aldo looked phenomenal at the bantamweight division and it is safe to say that this won’t be his last fight at the new weight class.
