This weekend, in the co-main event of UFC Fortaleza on ESPN+, former featherweight champ Jose Aldo will battle surging contender Renato Moicano.

Speaking at Thursday’s UFC Fortaleza media day, Jose Aldo harkened back to late 2018, when he was briefly linked to a lightweight fight with Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. Aldo was excited about this fight, but now that Cerrone is chasing a fight with Conor McGregor, he no longer sees it as an option.

That being said, there’s another lightweight fight he’s very interested in: a long-discussed showdown with Anthony Pettis, who is currently booked for a welterweight fight with Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson.

“This fight was very close (to happening),” Aldo said of Cerrone (via MMA Fighting). “They offered it to us and I was really happy because we’re both aggressive fighters and it would be a big fight, but the discussion has taken another path now, he’s trying to fight Conor (McGregor) and I don’t see how this fight happens now.”

“But (Anthony) Pettis would be an excellent opponent,” he continued. “We were close to fighting twice before and didn’t happen. Having this fight in May, at lightweight, would be even better.”

On May 11, the UFC is set to return to Brazil with the UFC 237 pay-per-view. Aldo has recently stated that he hopes to fight at every Brazilian UFC card this year, then potentially hang up the gloves.

Depending on the outcomes of their upcoming fights, does a fight between Jose Aldo and Anthony Pettis interest you?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 2/1/2019.