Daniel Cormier credits Jose Aldo for giving the lighter weight divisions legitimacy. Aldo (31-8 MMA, 13-7 UFC) returns vs. Jonathan Martinez (19-4 MMA, 10-3 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 301 (Pay-per-view/ESPN/ESPN+) co-main event at Farmasi Arena in Rio de Janeiro. Aldo, a former WEC and UFC featherweight champion, had a dominant reign in the octagon with seven title defenses before eventually opting to drop down to bantamweight. Cormier praised Aldo for drawing people in with his performances. “I didn’t respect small guys to that degree before Aldo,” Cormier said on his ESPN show “Good Guy/Bad Guy” with Chael Sonnen.
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