Jose Aldo is on the verge of making his bantamweight debut.
A fight between the former longtime UFC featherweight champion Aldo and recent 135-pound title challenger Marlon Moraes is set for UFC 245. A UFC official confirmed the booking after MMA Junkie’s initial report that the fight was in the works.
UFC 245 takes place Dec. 14 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass.
In August, Aldo (28-5 MMA, 10-4 UFC) began expressing interest in a move down to bantamweight. Moraes (22-6-1 MMA, 4-2 UFC) said earlier this month that he would like to welcome his fellow Brazilian to the division.
Aldo’s venture at 135 pounds will come after a unanimous decision loss to Alexander Volkanovski in May at UFC 237 on home soil in Brazil. It will be Aldo’s third fight of 2019. Aldo also defeated Renato Moicano by TKO back in February.
Moraes, meanwhile, failed to claim the vacant bantamweight title in his most recent fight, losing by third-round TKO to current champ Henry Cejudo. Prior to that, Moraes earned his title shot on the strength of a four-fight winning streak.
The latest UFC 245 lineup now includes:
- Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington – for welterweight title
- Max Holloway vs. Alexander Volkanovski – for featherweight title
- Amanda Nunes vs. Germaine de Randamie – for women’s bantamweight title
- Jose Aldo vs. Marlon Moraes
- Urijah Faber vs. Petr Yan
- Matt Brown vs. Ben Saunders
- Jessica Eye vs. Viviane Araujo
- Kai Kara-France vs. Brandon Moreno
- Oskar Piechota vs. Punahele Soriano
