When Mario Bautista steps back into the octagon at UFC 316, it will have been eight months since his victory over Jose Aldo, and he`s clearly eager to leave behind the controversy that surrounded that fight.
His win, a hard-fought split decision, sparked immediate controversy. Critics argued he didn`t deserve the victory and reacted angrily to his strategy, which effectively neutralized many of Aldo`s key attacks. What should have been a highlight of his career turned into a period of defending his performance, and the issue resurfaced recently when Aldo competed against Aiemann Zahabi at UFC 315.
While the situation was frustrating, Bautista understood that the reaction stemmed more from Jose Aldo`s status as a beloved figure in the sport than from anything he did.
“Everyone loves Jose Aldo and wants to see the old version of him, with all the highlights and everything he could do,” Bautista commented. “I believe they’re just upset that I prevented him from doing any of that.”
Bautista pointed to Aldo`s performance against Zahabi as clear evidence of why he had no intention of engaging in a free-for-all or attempting to turn their bout into a back-and-forth slugfest.
While Zahabi endured a heavy onslaught in the third round before securing a unanimous decision victory, Aldo landed a barrage of strikes that brought him close to finishing the fight. For Bautista, this demonstrated precisely why he wanted to avoid that type of exchange with Aldo, noting that Zahabi was almost finished and could have easily ended up with a loss based on how that exchange unfolded.
“Aiemann Zahabi did win the fight, and he also managed to shut Aldo down and tire him out towards the end,” Bautista stated. “However, he took a potentially fight-ending soccer kick to the face in the process. Credit to Zahabi for absorbing that shot, getting back up, and turning the tables on Aldo.”
“You just never know,” he added. “The referee could have potentially stopped the fight as soon as that soccer kick landed and he fell back like that. That would have been the end, and you’d lose.”
Naturally, Bautista harbors no hard feelings towards Aldo for being disappointed with the fight`s outcome, but he stands by his decision to do whatever was necessary to secure the win that night and offers no apologies for it.
Despite the initial frustration, Bautista has long since put the incident behind him and is confident that a strong showing against Patchy Mix at UFC 316 will shift the public perception.
“Years from now, people will look up the result on Tapology, see a green mark indicating a win, and it will simply say ‘Jose Aldo’ next to it,” Bautista remarked. “People will forget the controversy, and that’s ultimately what matters.”
“I’m just excited to have this next fight and move past all of this,” he concluded. “We’ll see what happens. It’s part of the sport. It’s something you have to navigate once you reach the higher levels. You’re going to have moments like these. You can never predict what challenges will come your way, and you simply have to address them.”
