Just when we thought Jose Aldo may finally be done as a contender, he went and rattled off a brilliant three-fight winning streak once again positioning himself right in line for a title shot. Now the question is whether or not he’ll be getting it next.

The bantamweight division has rapidly become arguably the best in the world across all organizations. In the UFC, the title has gone through some rather unfortunate drama in recent years but despite that, the talent at the top is as good as it gets.

Seemingly putting to bed their rivalry, for the time being, champion Aljamain Sterling defeated Petr Yan via split decision in their UFC 273 rematch earlier this month. “The Funkmaster” has already begun pondering the options going forward but admits he isn’t sure who the UFC will put in front of him.

Throughout the Sterling-Yan saga, former titlist T.J. Dillashaw returned from serving a two-year USADA suspension due to testing positive for EPO usage. Dillashaw has since earned a split decision over Cory Sandhagen and targets a title shot for his next time out.

More recently, another former champion, Henry Cejudo, is looking to come out of retirement after being inspired by the results of UFC 273. “Triple C” has declared he’ll be re-entering the USADA testing pool with hopes of recapturing gold, whether at 145 or 135-pounds.

In Aldo’s mind, neither of those two make any sense for Sterling’s second title defense.

“Aljamain, I am waiting for you to sign the contract for our fight,” Aldo tweeted. “There is no doubt that the fans want to watch this fight. We are currently the 2 best bantamweights in the UFC. Let the rest of the boys fighting each other and exchanging insults on the internet. In my opinion it does not make any sense to let a guy who got suspended for 2 years for cheating to come back and fight for the belt after winning a split decision in a fight I think he lost.

“The other one is a clown who faked his retirement just to try to raise his purse – as that did not work now he wants to fight for the title after spending 2 years out of the game (and out of the USADA’s pool),” Aldo later added.

A title shot for Aldo at bantamweight would be only the second of his career after primarily holding the throne in the featherweight division above throughout his career. At 35 years old and with 38 fights under his belt, Aldo has still looked sharp as a tack in his recent wins over Rob Font, Pedro Munhoz, and Marlon “Chito” Vera.

For Sterling, he’s open to the legendary challenge that “Scarface” presents.

“.@danawhite @seanshelby Hunter, when is our next War room meeting? Lots of money to be made!” quote tweeted Sterling in response to Aldo.

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VIDEO STEW

Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano Full Press Conference with Jake Paul, Eddie Hearn.

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LISTEN UP

Heck of a Morning. MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck discusses the MMA Fighting MMA Draft, Kamaru Usman vs. Canelo Alvarez, and Urijah Faber joins the show.

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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Happy anniversary!

More Gamebred FC for everyone.

This man is meeting everyone over there!

Big-city Cyborg.

Good moves.

Draft day.

Ouch.

Sorry, Bryan.

Wild.

It continues.

Sanford strong.

Not sure what happened here but it’s pretty funny looking.

Ferocious.

Flexin’ on Paulo.

Motivation.

Fearless.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Alonzo Menifield (11-3) vs. Nicolae Negumereanu (12-1); UFC Vegas 56, June 4

Kyung Ho Kang (17-9) vs. Batgerel Danaa (12-3); UFC 275, June 11

Jack Della Maddalena (11-2) vs. Ramazan Emeev (20-5); UFC 275, June 11

Hayisaer Maheshate (6-1) vs. Steve Garcia (12-4); UFC 275, June 11

Seung Woo Choi (10-4) vs. Joshua Culibao (9-1-1); UFC275, June 11

Jessica Eye (15-10) vs. Maycee Barber (10-2); UFC 276, July 2

Caio Borralho (11-1, 1 NC) vs. Armen Petrosyan (7-1); UFC Fight Night, July 9

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FINAL THOUGHTS

For the most part, I think it’s fairly hard to argue with Aldo here. Bantamweight is just one of those weight classes, if not the weight class, where you simply can’t be upset at any matchup that’s made. They’re literally all straight bangers. But I need to see him vs. Dominick Cruz before it’s too late. So, sorry, Jose. If I was in charge, you’d be needing one more win over a fellow G.O.A.T.

Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend, folks!

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EXIT POLL

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