Aldo continues resurgence with victory over Font

MMA legend Jose Aldo continued his resurgence with a unanimous decision win over Rob Font in the bantamweight main event of a UFC Fight Night at the APEX Facility in Las Vegas on Sunday morning.

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The 35-year-old former featherweight champion has now racked up three straight wins and taken himself closer to this dream of claiming the bantamweight title.

Aldo had a slow start in the first round, but once he landed a straight right that took Font off his feet a few seconds before the bell, it was his fight to dominate with superior striking and intelligent movement in the Octagon.

Font landed some significant blows and did major damage in terms of almost closing Aldo’s right eye, but ultimately he was outclassed by a better round and more experienced fighter.

“I trained for this, everyone thinks that I can only go three rounds, I proved that I can do five,” said Aldo in his post-fight interview. “I want to be the champion of this division and I am working toward that. Rob Font is a tough opponent, I respect him a lot, but no one is going to stop me in this division.”

He added, “I want to fight for the title but we don’t know what is going to happen with that, so [TJ] Dillashaw is right there [for my next fight].”

The co-main event saw friends Rafael Fiziev and Brad Riddell put on a fine lightweight clash, with the former taking a third-round TKO victory thanks to a spectacular and rare spinning wheel kick that landed flush on his opponent’s temple. Fiziev followed that up by jokingly calling out actor Vince Vaughn, who was in attendance at the APEX Facility.

The main card opened with Alex Morono defeating Mickey Gall via unanimous decision in the welterweight division; and was followed by Chris Curtis putting down Brendan Allen in the middleweight category; Clay Guida submitting fellow lightweight Leonardo Santos; and Jamahal Hill destroying Jimmy Crute with a first-round KO in their light heavyweight clash.

UFC 269 will take centre stage next Sunday, 12 December, with the event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas headlined by two title fights: Amanda Nunes v Julianna Pena for the women’s bantamweight belt, and Charles Oliveira v Dustin Poirier for the lightweight championship.

MAIN CARD RESULTS

- Main event: Bantamweight: Jose Aldo def. Rob Font via unanimous decision (50-45 50-45 49-46), R5, 5:00

- Co-main: Lightweight: Rafael Fiziev def. Brad Riddell via TKO (spinning wheel kick), R3, 2:20

- Light heavyweight: Jamahal Hill def. Jimmy Crute via KO (punch), R1, 0:48

- Lightweight: Clay Guida def. Leonardo Santos vis submission (rear-naked choke), R2, 1:21

- Middleweight: Chris Curtis def. Brendan Allen via TKO (punches and knees), R2, 1:58

- Welterweight: Alex Morono def. Mickey Gall via unanimous decision (30-27 30-27 30-27), R3, 5:00