Jose Aldo accepts Michael Johnson’s call out, eyes UFC return in Fortaleza

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) featherweight champion, Jose Aldo, was already training for his Cub Swanson rematch when news broke that Swanson would be unable to return to action before mid-February.

Expecting to compete three times in 2019, Aldo is refusing to wait that long.

He is, however, willing to delay his next fight by a week if it means getting the chance to compete in his native Brazil. The promotion is expected to bring another ESPN+ fight card to Fortaleza on Feb. 2.

And Michael Johnson will be ready.

“We accept Michael Johnson,” Aldo’s coach Andre Pederneiras told Combate (via Bloody Elbow. “That’s an interesting fight for us. It would be a great fight for the fans. They’re both strikers, just like it was against Jeremy Stephens. It’s no use facing a wrestler who’ll try to grapple and make a boring fight. We must pick the right fights, great ones, no matter the results, but they must be great. I wanted Aldo to have those fights at featherweight so he could finish his contract with a title shot. That’s the truth. We’re waiting on the UFC.”

After getting submitted by Darren Elkins in his featherweight debut, Johnson (19-3) won back-to-back fights over Andre Fili and Artem Lobov, and has been trying to finagle a fight against “Junior” as far back as Sept. 2017.

As for Aldo (27-4), he got back into the win column by crushing Jeremy Stephens at the UFC on FOX 30 event last July. It was the first victory for the Brazilian after suffering consecutive losses to current division kingpin, Max Holloway.

So, as a fan, are you on board with Aldo vs. Johnson?