Possibility of Jose Aldo filling in at UFC 196?

The MMA world has been in an uproar since it was announced that UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos had withdrawn from his UFC 196 lightweight title fight against Conor McGregor on March 5th.

The UFC is currently trying to find a replacement fight for McGregor so as to avoid having to scrap the entire card so close to the event. As many expected, Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone offered to step in on short notice to fight Rafael dos Anjos.

Now, there has been mention of Jose Aldo potentially stepping in on short notice to fight McGregor in a rematch. While the pair’s last fight was at featherweight for the featherweight belt, and McGregor has moved up to lightweight for this fight, Aldo has stated that he wants a rematch with McGregor regardless of whether or not the belt is on the line.

To further add to the speculation, Guilherme Cruz of MMAFighting revealed on Twitter that Aldo has in fact been training.

Could we see Aldo vs. McGregor II at lightweight in just 12 days?

@BrianStann @jyp15 Aldo told me last week he's training for a while now. Not the type of training for a fight, but he's not inactive.

— Guilherme Cruz (@guicruzzz) February 23, 2016