Jose Aldo will indeed fight at UFC Rio on May 11th after being successfully treated for a bacterial infection on his knee.
When Jose Aldo was admitted to the hospital last week with a bacterial infection, it looked like the MMA Gods were at it again. With his UFC Rio fight against Alexander Volkanovski on May 11th less than two months away, would the former featherweight kingpin still be able to compete?
Fortunately, it sounds like Aldo’s medical situation is under control. According to Brazilian MMA news outlet Combate, Jose was released from Samaritano Hospital in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday morning and should be back to training in a few days. According to his coach Dedé Pederneiras, the fight is still on and the infection won’t affect their preparation for the match.
Aldo is currently on a two fight win streak and is looking to put an exclamation point on the end of his career with two more victories at UFC events held in Brazil. Volkanovski is just the latest tough test thrown at the former WEC and UFC champ: Alexander “The Great” is on a six fight UFC win streak with three of those coming by TKO. His sole loss came back in 2013, and he currently stands at 19-1.
But as Aldo showed in his last two knockout wins over Renato Moicano and Jeremy Stephens, there’s still gas left in his tank and he’s putting his foot down on the pedal for this self-described retirement run. Whether he’ll actually step away from combat sports entirely after he fulfills his contractually obligated two fights with the UFC is less clear.
For a guy now talking about retirement, he’s spent a lot of time talking about boxing and other challenges. And if he adds Volkanovski to his impressive list of victims, the temptation to keep going rather than hang ‘em up may be impossible to resist.