Jose Aldo vs Mario Bautista: complete frustration (Rant post)



Unfortunately, in a sport where fights can very easily not end in a finish, it is not unlikely that when the decision is read, the wrong fighter is given the win. There are plenty of close fights that could go either way, but I am here to talk about robberies, where clearly the wrong fighter is given the win. The robbery I want to talk about in my opinion is not the worst of 2024, but by far the most frustrating. This is in part because it contained one of my personal favorite fighters ever, and the way that the fight unfolded absolutely infuriated me and many other fans. This fight took place at altitude at UFC 307 in Salt Lake City, which also played a part in my frustration. If you have seen this card, you know exactly what fight I am going to talk about, that being Jose Aldo vs Mario Bautista

To start, I do not want to direct all of my criticism towards Bautista who was given the decision victory, because Aldo is not blameless. Jose Aldo is one of the greatest fighters of all time and likely has the best takedown defense in the history of the sport, and that was fully on display in this fight even though he was 38 years old. Aldo fought in the same arena two years earlier in 2022 and lost in almost the exact same fashion to the current bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili. Aldo was far too accepting of positions against the fence, and although he defended all Merab’s takedowns, he still lost a decision as almost all the judges had to score was the work against the fence, which Merab was technically in control of. If he in that fight and the Bautista fight tried to get off the fence more and strike, he could have won the fight based on damage. He actually did throw many more strikes against Mario than he did against Merab but was still not given the nod.

Onto the actual target of my rant, Mario Bautista. Mario is a prospect in the division, and this fight was the biggest fight of his career thus far. I did not really have an opinion of Mario before this fight, but I had an opinion on this matchup to begin with. Jose Aldo, being a legend returning from retirement with multiple wins in the division over people ranked higher than Mario, should not have been offered this fight, especially at altitude where cardio becomes a concern. I mentioned earlier that Aldo threw more strikes in this fight, and that is true, as he did far more damage and out landed Mario in two of the three rounds. Mario on the other hand won this fight by doing nothing.

The only other way to describe what won him this fight is stalling, as that’s essentially all he did for 3 rounds. After being out struck, he would resort to holding Aldo up against the fence and that’s it. I’d like to tell you more about what he actually did, but that’s the frustrating part, he didn’t do anything. While yes, Aldo should not have accepted this position as much as he did, Mario was legitimately not fighting. There was no attempt to improve position or do any damage to Aldo, Mario just fought as hard as possible to hold him there and do nothing. He technically was “attempting” takedowns, but they all failed, so he continued to hold Aldo and stall. This decision sets a bad precedent for the UFC, as it illustrates that if you just stall for three rounds you can win fights, despite almost no attempt to finish or do damage to your opponent.

Watching a legend get stalled out and robbed of a decision win in a fight that should not have been made is maybe the angriest I have ever been watching this sport. Robberies always frustrate me, but the circumstances of this one absolutely enraged me. Mario didn’t have many fans before this, and he certainly has very few now, as nearly the entire fan base shared my anger and will never be rooting for Mario to win again. Also, because of how the pay system works in the UFC, Aldo lost half of his paycheck because he did not win the fight while Mario got all his money for this horrible performance. I could talk about the pay system and my issues with that, but that is a rant for another time. In conclusion, stalling should not be rewarded in the sport, Jose Aldo deserved better, and Mario Bautista has become public enemy number one for many fans.


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