The former long-time featherweight champion and recent bantamweight title contender looks like he has his next fight lined up at 135 lbs.
A pivotal bantamweight fight between Jose Aldo and Pedro Munhoz is close to being finalized for UFC 265.
The news was first reported by Ana Hissa and Raphael Marinho of Combate on Thursday afternoon. Per the report, both Aldo and Munhoz have verbally agreed to the fight.
Aldo recently snapped a three-fight losing streak when he earned an unanimous decision win over Marlon Vera at UFC Fight Night: Thompson vs. Neal last December. It was his first win at bantamweight since moving down from featherweight a little more than a year ago.
Prior to the win over Vera, Aldo dropped decisions to Alexander Volkanovski and Marlon Moraes at UFC 237 and UFC 245 respectively. He was then stopped by Petr Yan in a fight for the then-vacant bantamweight championship at UFC 251.
Aldo is currently ranked at No. 5 in the division and still has plans of becoming a champion again. He was a former two-time UFC featherweight champion until he lost the titles to Conor McGregor at UFC 194 in 2015 and Max Holloway at UFC 212 in 2017.
Munhoz returned to the win column in his last outing when he defeated Jimmie Rivera by unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night: Rozenstruik vs. Gane. He was previously beaten by decision against names such as Aljamain Sterling and Frankie Edgar. Munhoz walked away with back-to-back ‘Fight of the Night’ bonuses in his last two fights and solidified his spot at No. 8 in the rankings.
UFC 265 does not have a location or venue set at the time of this writing, however, it is expected to take place on Saturday, Aug. 7, 2021. The pay-per-view event is also without a headliner, but a title defense for women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes opposite of Julianna Pena may fit that billing. Expect more updates to the card in coming weeks.