UFC 301: Alexandre Pantoja vs. Steve Erceg continues on the main card with the co-main event in the bantamweight division between Jonathan Martinez and Jose Aldo. Martinez is coming off six consecutive victories most recently finishing his opponent via leg kicks meanwhile, Aldo is coming out of retirement to fight in his native Brazil in front of his fans after not competing in MMA in two years. With that said, check out our UFC odds series for our Martinez-Aldo prediction and pick.

Jonathan Martinez (19-4) is starting to look like a legitimate title challenger as he is coming off of six consecutive victories. In his most recent victory, he brutally finished Adrian Yanez in the second round due to leg kicks. Now, Martinez will be searching for the biggest victory of his MMA career when he faces off against a living legend Jose Aldo this weekend at UFC 301.

Jose Aldo (31-8) retired from MMA after his unanimous decision loss to Merab Dvalishvili back in August 2022. Since his retirement, he has gone 2-0-1 in boxing having not fought in MMA in almost two years. Now, after receiving the call from the UFC to fight at least one more time in front of home crowd he will be looking to turn back time and get back into the win column when he takes on the surging Jonathan Martinez this weekend at UFC 301.

Here are the UFC 301 Odds, courtesy of BetOnline. 

UFC 301 Odds: Jonathan Martinez-Jose Aldo Odds

Jonathan Martinez: -142

Jose Aldo: +122

Over 2.5 rounds: -260

Under 2.5 rounds: +200

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Why Jonathan Martinez Will Win

Jonathan Martinez has sneakily put together a six-fight winning streak where he just finished surging bantamweight Adrian Yanez via leg kicks in his last fight. That now put his UFC record at 10-3 and put him at No. 12 in the bantamweight rankings. Martinez now has the chance to get the biggest win of his career against a living legend in Jose Aldo this weekend at UFC 301.

Honestly, this is one of the harder matchups for Martinez especially for someone who isn't even in the rankings in the bantamweight division. Even though Aldo has retired is still a very dangerous fighter to have to go up against. With that said, even though Aldo is as dangerous as they come in the bantamweight division he is still 37 years old and hasn't fought in MMA in nearly two years since his retirement. This will be a battle between two primarily kickboxers but Martinez being 7 years young will have the speed advantage and will be utilizing his kicks more than Aldo will which will be surprising to some.

Many still remember Aldo as this dangerous leg kicker but that part of his career is over and done with and Martinez as surpassed him as the potent leg kicker in the division. If Martinez can avoid going shot for shot with Aldp he has a chance to stay on the outside and pick Aldo apart en route to the biggest victory of his career.

Why Jose Aldo Will Win

Jose Aldo is nearly two years removed from his last MMA fight where he lost to Merab Dvalishvili via unanimous decision and he subsequently retired from MMA thereafter. Since then, Aldo competed in professional boxing three times where he amassed a 2-0-1 record. Aldo was originally supposed to save the day against Dominick Cruz but Cruz was injured and not able to fight on the fight card so they called up Jonathan Martinez and he answered the call as they go to battle this weekend at UFC 301.

Aldo is still a living legend and even at age 37 he can compete with the best in the bantamweight division as he sets out to prove that against Martinez this weekend. We may not see the same Aldo we once loved with the combinations between his punches and leg kicks but a more measured boxing approach where he mixes it between head and body strikes with the occasional leg kicks. Since he transitioned to a boxer, he has been utilizing his boxing more which is ultimately going to make it a lot more crisp than we've seen during his time in the UFC. It's going to boil down to Aldo being able to get past the kicking range of Martinez to get inside the pocket and land his devastating combinations and if he's able to do that we can see a vintage Aldo performance getting him back into the win column.

Final Jonathan Martinez-Jose Aldo Prediction & Pick

This is the right co-main event to have in place for a PPV event in Brazil. To bring back the legend Jose Aldo to face off against another surging striker in the bantamweight division the UFC fans will be on the edge of their seats. However, this seems to be a bad stylistic matchup for Aldo mainly because he's going to be at an evident speed disadvantage and while Aldo still packs power in his strikes if he doesn't hurt Martinez he's going to be outstruck at distance. Ultimately, Aldo is going to attempt to press forward looking to land his patented body shots and thunderous hooks but it will be Martinez who keeps Aldo at bay with his kicks as he looks to outstrike him for the majority of the fight en route to a decision victory.

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Final Jonathan Martinez-Jose Aldo Prediction & Pick: Jonathan Martinez (-142), Over 2.5 Rounds (-260)