Former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo is coming off a loss to Marlon Moraes at UFC 245 in December, but that didn’t keep the 33-year-old from landing another huge opportunity to challenge UFC bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo next at UFC 250. Aldo will challenge Cejudo for the 135-pound title according to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto.
Breaking: UFC bantamweight champ Henry Cejudo (@HenryCejudo), aka Triple C, will defend his title against featherweight GOAT Jose Aldo (@josealdojunior) at UFC 250 on May 19 in São Paulo, Brazil, per Dana White and additional sources.
Aldo is currently ranked No. 6 at bantamweight in the UFC’s official rankings. He lost via split decision to No. 1 contender Moraes two months ago but was the top choice for the UFC 250 gig against Cejudo based on his legendary career and overwhelming popularity.
Moreover, some observers, including UFC president Dana White, believed Aldo deserved the nod from the judges over Moraes at UFC 245, so he seems to be getting the benefit of the doubt from the company.
Cejudo Is One of UFC’s Top Champions
Cejudo, 33, became the UFC’s fourth “champ-champ” in history after winning the UFC flyweight title against Demetrius Johnson at UFC 227 in August 2018 and picking up the vacant bantamweight strap against Moraes at UFC 288 the following year.
Cejudo subsequently relinquished the flyweight title to focus on defending his bantamweight belt, and the former U.S. Olympic gold medalist in wrestling is currently ranked No. 3 in the UFC men’s pound-for-pound rankings.
UFC 250 takes place on May 19 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. That means Aldo will getting the huge chance to grab UFC gold again in front of his home crowd. Additionally, it means Cejudo will have the chance of defeating one of that country’s most popular fighters in enemy territory.
UFC 250 Also Features ‘Shogun’ Rua vs. Rogerio Nogueira
While the UFC 250 main event hasn’t yet been announced, the card is also set to feature the third fight between Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua and Rogerio Nogueira.
The first Rua-Nogueira bout took place in June 2005 under the Pride FC promotional banner. Rua defeated Nogueira via unanimous decision. The next fight took place ten years later at UFC 190. Once again, Rua won beat Nogueira by unanimous decision.
Now, Nogueria gets his third chance at besting Rua at UFC 250. The third fight between Rua and Nogueira is likely to be the last chance Nogueria has to defeat his rival. After all, Rua, 38, and Nogueria, 43, are much closer to the end of their MMA careers than the beginning.
If anything, unless the two produce a fantastic Fight of the Year candidate with something like disputable scorecards, about the best the two fighters could hope for as far as a return match go again would be to hook up as their careers fade under the banner of a different company.
That means Nogueria absolutely needs to bring his best effort to defeat Rua this time around at UFC 250.
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Former Champ Jose Aldo Lands Huge Opportunity at UFC 250