Jose Aldo says he only needs ‘a week of training to beat’ Henry Cejudo

Jose Aldo isn’t too concerned about not being able to train for his bantamweight title fight against Henry Cejudo.

In the main event of UFC 250 on May 9 in Brazil, Cejudo is looking for his first bantamweight title defense when he battles Aldo. The fight being made was heavily criticized given the fact the Brazilian is 0-1 at the weight class and on a two-fight losing skid.

Although it is a massive opportunity for Aldo to fight for the belt, training has become difficult. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Brazilian has had to limit who he trains with.

“I’ll separate a group of athletes, no more than five fighters that have been in quarantine as well, and I know they don’t have it, so they can train with me,” Jose Aldo told MMA Fighting. “I’ve proven I don’t have it [by staying at home for two weeks]. If they don’t have it either, we can train and have contact. I’ll train exclusively with that group.

“We’re all isolated. We’re in quarantine, so, when it’s over, we’ll take all the precaution needed and be able to train jiu-jitsu and spar. We’ll be able to do out normal training. The gym is closed, so we’ll open it just for us and train without risking getting contaminated or contaminating others.”

Despite Aldo not having a full set of training partners, he isn’t too worried about it. He says the only worry is making weight. Besides that he believes he’ll beat Cejudo easily.

“F***, I only need a week of training to beat Cejudo,” Aldo said. “I’m more worried about making weight than fighting him. I can be off camp, on vacation, but if you put me in the Octagon with him, I beat him with an eye closed. So, for me, it’s not about sparring, if I only have a month or a week to train, I beat him even if I’m not training. The only problem is the weight, so that’s why I’m eating well. I’m cool about the fight though, don’t worry about it.”

Image: @ufc on Instagram

Why he’s so confident is simple. Jose Aldo believes he’s better everywhere than Cejudo and is confident he’ll finish him.

“I beat him wherever the fights goes. Easy,” Aldo said. “I’ll knock him out fast, no doubt about it. It won’t go five rounds, brother. It won’t. No doubt. If he tries to take me down, he won’t succeed because I’ve fought better wrestlers than him. I respect his history in the Olympics, he was an Olympic champion, congratulations, hats off to him, but it’s a whole other sport. It’s completely different. He won the Olympics at 55kg (121.25 pounds) and it’s completely different from MMA.

“I’m not worried about it. I have way more jiu-jitsu than him. If he takes me to the ground, I’ll submit him even if I’m not training for a year, and if we stay on the feet, I’ll knock him out. Don’t worry, wherever the fight goes I’ll knock him out.”

What do you make of Jose Aldo saying he only needs one week to beat Henry Cejudo?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 3/26/2020.