Jose Aldo is back again.
The former featherweight champion-turned-bantamweight contender is expected to return for a showdown against Mario Bautista at UFC 307, which is scheduled for Oct. 5 and currently expected to happen in Salt Lake City.
Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed the news to MMA Fighting on Thursday with verbal agreements in place for the fight. AG Fight initially reported the matchup.
Aldo took a brief hiatus from his MMA career to pursue boxing but he returned with a dominant win over Jonathan Martinez back in May. That moved Aldo’s record to 4-1 in his past five fights with his only loss coming by decision to current top-ranked contender Merab Dvalishvili.
Following his win at UFC 301, Aldo was actually a free agent after fighting out his contract, but it appears he’s inked a new deal to stay with the promotion.
Meanwhile, Bautista gets the biggest opportunity of his career after rattling off six straight wins in a row. The MMA Lab-trained fighter dispatched Ricky Simon in his most recent outing back in January and he’s been asking for a step up in competition ever since.
Wish granted as Bautista gets the chance to take on a legend in Aldo as part of the UFC 307 pay-per-view card in October.
Guilherme Cruz contributed to this report.
