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11th Sep 2017

Jose Aldo receives enticing offer from one of the scariest knockout artists in the division

Eh... yes, please!

Ben Kiely

Everyone wants a piece of Jose Aldo these days.

As soon as Jose Aldo started showing a hint of weakness, the vultures started circling.

For so long he was considered to be the best 145 lb fighter on planet Earth. He was held up as this invincible beast up alongside the likes of Demetrious Johnson and Jon Jones (before… well, everything). Mark Hominick, Frankie Edgar and Chad Mendes tested him, but Aldo still scored unanimous decision victories in those fights.

It wasn’t until he lost a couple of fights that the queue began to form. First Mcgregor switched the lights off in just 13 seconds, then Max Holloway beat him to a bloody pulp.

Since losing his belt to Holloway at UFC 212, he has received fight offers from a long list of names including Edson Barboza, Artem Lobov and Michael Johnson. Following his stunning victory over former WEC and Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez at UFC 215, Jeremy Stephens threw his hat into the ring too.

Stephens is 5-4 and has wins over Renan Barao, Dennis Bermudez and Darren Elkins, but has come up short against the division’s elite including Edgar, Holloway and Cub Swanson. As he told MMAFighting, he’d be more than willing to show he’s up to the task of taking on the greatest featherweight champion in the promotion’s history.

“I know Jose Aldo’s crying for November or something like that, or he’s trying to campaign for that. I would love that fight. November, it’s a little tight on my schedule and I can’t push too many things back.”

Having postponed his wedding to fight Melendez in Canada, ‘Lil Heathen’ doesn’t fancy pushing it back again. However, if Aldo’s ready to wait a little bit longer, he’s more than willing to meet him inside the cage.

“December/January or something like that would be something I would definitely look forward to. He’s a banger, a class act and me and him could get it on and give the fans a great showing.”

That would be certainly worth the wait… at least from the perspective of the fans.