Jose Aldo and Marlon Vera to throw down on December 19th
Jose Aldo and Marlon Vera will go at it in a bantamweight bout set for UFC Vegas 17. There were prior rumblings of this fight being booked for late November but it will come to fruition a few weeks afterward.
These 135 pounders will lock horns on December 19th in a fight that was initially reported on by BJPenn.com. MMA Fighting would confirm the Aldo vs Vera news with sources close to the proceedings.
Aldo is a legendary 145-pound warrior who is still seeking his first octagon win in the bantamweight division. The Nova Uniao product fell short in his bid for the bantamweight world championship last time out when he competed at UFC 251.
Aldo is a two-time UFC featherweight champion and WEC featherweight titlist looking to carve out a path back towards another crack at the UFC bantamweight belt.
He is looking to rebound from a career-worst three-fight losing streak which includes setbacks to current featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, former bantamweight title challenger Marlon Moraes, and current bantamweight king Petr Yan.
Jose Aldo vs Marlon Vera
For Vera, a case could be made that he is currently riding a seven-fight winning streak overall. The only defeat through that stretch for Marlon “Chito” Vera was a controversial decision loss to Song Yadong in May of this year.
Chito would rebound in his last outing by finishing Sean O’Malley. He returned to the win column via first-round TKO at UFC 252 in August.
In the bantamweight divisional hierarchy, Aldo and Vera are number 7 and number 15 respectively as per the UFC’s official rankings. This is a consequential bout for the respective career directions of both pugilsits. Also, for determining the future of the 135 pound division through 2021.
Jose Aldo vs Marlon Vera bolsters this Las Vegas, Nevada card which emanates from the UFC Apex. It will mark the promotion’s final event of the calendar year.
UFC Vegas 17 will be headlined by a welterweight attraction between Leon Edwards and Khamzat Chimaev. The aforementioned Marlon Moraes will also take on Rob Font in a bantamweight bout that night.
