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 battle behind him.
In what turned out to be a grueling back-and-forth affair, Bautista gutted out a split-decision win however there was instant blowback that he didn’t deserve the nod and he acquired loads of indignant reactions about his sport plan used to negate lots of Aldo’s greatest weapons. What ought to have been a celebration for the largest win of his profession was Bautista defending his efficiency, and the entire ugly mess received drummed up once more when Aldo returned for his latest battle towards Aiemann Zahabi at UFC 315.
The entire ordeal was annoying, however Bautista acknowledged it had much more to do with Aldo being some of the 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“Everybody loves Jose Aldo and everybody needs to see the outdated Jose Aldo,” Bautista instructed MMA Preventing. “The highlights, all of the issues he might 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 towards Zahabi to comprehend why he wasn’t going to play any video games with the Brazilian or try to show their battle right into a three-round slugfest.
Whereas Zahabi was capable of climate a heavy storm within the third spherical earlier than incomes the unanimous determination win, Aldo blasted him with a barrage of photographs that just about completed the battle. That was all of the proof Bautista wanted to indicate why he didn’t wish to have interaction in that sort of conflict with Aldo as a result of Zahabi was almost completed, and he might have in the end gone residence with a loss on his report based mostly on how that battle performed out.
“[Aiemann] Zahabi, he received the battle 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 received again up and put it again on Aldo.
“[But] you by no means know. That ref might have jumped in as quickly as that soccer kick got here to the face, and he fell again like that and that will be the top of the battle 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 battle 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 towards Patchy Mix 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. “Persons are going to overlook and that’s all that issues.
“I’m simply excited to have this battle 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 means and also you’ve simply received to take care of it.”
