Marlon Moraes is targeting a return before the end of the year. And his ideal opponent is former featherweight champion Jose Aldo.
Moraes last competed at UFC 238 for the vacant bantamweight title. However, he suffered a TKO defeat to Henry Cejudo in his first attempt at UFC gold. It’s been a couple of months since and “Magic” is now ready to return.
His ideal return date is UFC 245 which takes place December 14. And one potential opponent is Aldo, who recently signaled his intentions of moving down:
“I’ve been training and I want to start a camp,” Moraes said in an interview with Combate (via Bloody Elbow). “I hope I can fight on December 14, it would be a great date for me to fight. Let’s see what the UFC has planned. The Aldo fight is not only interesting for me. Jose is a legend of the sport, a featherweight champion. He has been talking about dropping to bantamweight and I’m the number one contender.
“Nothing better than dropping a division and fighting the number one guy. He deserves it. Aldo shouldn’t have to fight 53 times before he can fight for the title. I think it would be a good opportunity for him to prove to the UFC he can really make the weight. And, if he wins, he would go straight to a title shot.”
However, Moraes is certainly open to other potential opponents. Petr Yan has laid an open challenge to anyone who wants to prove they’re better than him. There’s also the option of fighting legends like Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber:
“There are other guys, too, like Petr Yan, I’ve been meaning to fight him,” Moraes added. “There’s Dominick Cruz, who should be coming back by now, there’s Urijah Faber. Those are the guys I’ve been thinking about.”
Who do you want to see Moraes face next?
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