UFC 315 Preview and Prediction: Jose Aldo – Aiemann Zahabi

Tomorrow night on the main card of UFC 315, former featherweight champion and “The King of Rio” Jose Aldo (32-9) returns. The former champion is taking on a surging bantamweight contender in Aiemann Zahabi (12-2).

This fight was supposed to take place at bantamweight given the fact that both men are ranked bantamweight contenders. However, it became clear earlier this morning that Jose Aldo was not going to make weight. Because of that, Zahabi was offered and accepted the fight at 145 pounds so it will move forward as a featherweight matchup.

For Zahabi, this is still a huge opportunity for him. He gets to fight a legend in front of his home country and if he wins, it would be his sixth win in a row. The last time we saw him was back in November when he picked up a decision win over Pedro Munhoz. Zahabi is currently ranked 15th in the division.

Jose Aldo didn’t look good at all on the scales this morning. After struggling for years to make 145, Aldo made the shocking decision to drop to bantamweight back in 2019. That said, Aldo never missed weight and often looked great on the scale. Something clearly went wrong ahead of UFC 315 weigh-ins and now we have a featherweight matchup.

For Aldo, he’ll look to bounce back after a tough loss in his last fight. Last May, Aldo returned to the UFC and defeated Jonathan Martinez. He then took on Mario Bautista in October and suffered a brutal split decision loss where Bautista did largely nothing but hold Aldo against the fence. Aldo was devastated by the loss and now he’s looking to get it back.

UFC 315 Prediction

In terms of this fight, it honestly comes down to how Jose Aldo looks tomorrow. Obviously, he looked bad on the scales this morning. We don’t know how that’s going to impact his performance when they get inside the cage tomorrow night.

If I’m analyzing this fight just on skills, I don’t see a ton of paths to victory for Zahabi. Aldo usually struggles when he’s not allowed to be the aggressor in his fights. I don’t see Zahabi fighting enough with that forward pressure. I also don’t think he has the speed to keep up with Aldo on the feet and we know he’s not going to land takedowns.

Where Zahabi can win is if we see Aldo look like a shell of himself and gas out at UFC 315. Other than that, this is Aldo’s fight to lose in my opinion.

Prediction: Jose Aldo by Decision