José Aldo may have fought out the last fight on his UFC contract but it appears that he is leaning towards re-signing with the promotion in the near future.
The "King of Rio" produced one of the most memorable and successful UFC returns in the history of the promotion several weeks ago at UFC 301.
The former featherweight great had announced his retirement from the sport following a loss to Merab Dvalishvili back at UFC 278 in August of 2022.
With one fight left on his UFC contract, he was given permission by the promotion to pursue boxing before he stepped back inside the Octagon and looked like he hadn't missed a single step.
A win over surging contender Jonathan Martinez puts him back into the top 10 rankings at bantamweight and it doesn't look like we have seen the last of Aldo just yet.
During his first ever appearance on The MMA Hour, Aldo (via translator Fabiano Buskei) spoke about how the ball started rolling towards him making a legendary return.
"The process had started even before the turn of the year. I spoke to some people, I speak to Dana, I said I wanted to come back. Age is not a problem, I feel young, I wanted to go back. The process started through thinking about Dominick Cruz but then ended up with Jonathan Martinez and it was just through coincidence that the comeback was in Rio."
In the build-up to the UFC's return to Brazil, it was unclear whether this was Aldo putting one final full stop on his MMA career by fighting out his contract and putting on one last show for his home fans or whether this was the beginning of a new chapter.
Aldo told Ariel Helwani that the plan was never to finish up his contract so that he could fight anywhere else, mentioning several times in the interview that he has the upmost respect for the UFC and what they have done for him, his career and his family.
"Leaving one fight on the contract was never meant to actually wind down that contract and finish that contract by having that fight. The idea was actually keeping a fight on the contract because I never had the desire to fight anywhere else. Fighting in the UFC was always my dream, that's it. Being in the UFC is what I always wanted to do and I never wanted to leave so I wanted to show some people what I got."
Commenting on his future, the 135-pound contender says that talks are already underway about what his next step will be.
The Brazilian icon appeared to be heavily leaning towards signing a new contract with the UFC after feeling like he still has more to offer at this stage in his career.
Aldo revealed that he had been offered the opportunity to box on the undercard of the Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul event but due to the admiration he has for the UFC, he would listen to them first before making any further decisions.
"It's not about the money anymore, there are a lot of things to be taken into consideration and it's more of what I can do and what I can accomplish. I think that in that fight, I was able to show a lot of things that I can do, that I'm an MMA fighter, that I'm a complete fighter. So now the conversation is what can we show in the future and the things that we can accomplish."
Watch the full interview via MMA Fighting's YouTube channel below:
