When Mario Bautista returns to motion at UFC 316, he’ll be eight months faraway from his win over Jose Aldo and he’s greater than able to put all of the drama surrounding that struggle behind him.
In what turned out to be a grueling back-and-forth affair, Bautista gutted out a split-decision win however there was quick blowback that he didn’t deserve the nod and he obtained loads of indignant reactions about his recreation plan used to negate a lot of Aldo’s finest weapons. What ought to have been a celebration for the most important win of his profession changed into Bautista defending his efficiency, and the entire ugly mess acquired drummed up once more when Aldo returned for his latest struggle in opposition to Aiemann Zahabi at UFC 315.
The entire ordeal was annoying, however Bautista acknowledged it had much more to do with Aldo being one of the crucial common and well-liked fighters in historical past and much much less to do with him.
“Everybody loves Jose Aldo and everybody needs to see the outdated Jose Aldo,” Bautista advised MMA Preventing. “The highlights, all of the issues he may do, and I believe they’re simply mad that I shut all of it down and I wasn’t going to permit it to occur.”
Bautista says it’s important to look no additional than Aldo’s efficiency in opposition to Zahabi to appreciate why he wasn’t going to play any video games with the Brazilian or try to show their struggle right into a three-round slugfest.
Whereas Zahabi was capable of climate a heavy storm within the third spherical earlier than incomes the unanimous choice win, Aldo blasted him with a barrage of photographs that just about completed the struggle. That was all of the proof Bautista wanted to indicate why he didn’t need to have interaction in that form of struggle with Aldo as a result of Zahabi was practically completed, and he may have in the end gone dwelling with a loss on his file primarily based on how that struggle performed out.
“[Aiemann] Zahabi, he received the struggle and he shut him down as effectively and gassed him on the finish, however he took a soccer kick to the face for his troubles,” Bautista mentioned. “Credit score to Zahabi, he took that shot and acquired again up and put it again on Aldo.
“[But] you by no means know. That ref may have jumped in as quickly as that soccer kick got here to the face, and he fell again like that and that might be the top of the struggle and also you lose that. It’s loopy.”
Clearly, Bautista holds no ailing will in the direction of Aldo that he was upset with how their struggle ended, however he received’t apologize for doing no matter it took to win that night time.
As upsetting because it was on the time, Bautista has lengthy since moved on and he is aware of an ideal efficiency in opposition to Patchy Combine at UFC 316 will change the narrative on him once more.
“Years from now you’re going to go Tapology and scroll down and also you’re going to see a inexperienced [mark for a win] and it’s going to say Jose Aldo,” Bautista mentioned. “Individuals are going to neglect and that’s all that issues.
“I’m simply excited to have this struggle and get previous all that. We’ll see. That’s a part of the sport. It’s one thing I get to take care of when you get to the highest. You’re going to have moments like these. You by no means know what’s going to return your method and also you’ve simply acquired to take care of it.”
