Jose Aldo has explained why he believes Aljamain Sterling should be the favourite in his fight against TJ Dillashaw.

At UFC 280 later this year, Aljamain Sterling will defend his UFC bantamweight championship against TJ Dillashaw. The 135-pound division is as stacked as its ever been and with so many contenders hoping to make a splash, it’s no surprise that there are a lot of eyes on this bout – with veteran Jose Aldo being one of the many fighters who is intrigued to see how it all goes down.

Aldo returns to action this weekend against Merab Dvalishvili and if he can pick up the win, there’s a good chance he’ll be in the running to get the next crack at either Sterling or Aldo.

During a recent interview, the Brazilian sensation was brutally honest when explaining why he’s favouring ‘Funk Master’ to get the win.

“No disrespect to T.J., he’s a great athlete, but I think his time has gone,” Aldo said. “These two years he stayed out and not testing himself. I’ll say this, man, outside [of] fighting, the doping situation, everything he’s built, we don’t know how it was, if it really was his body because, you like it or not, when antidoping got more strict, he got punched twice and went down.

“It’s not the same thing when he fought and [doping] was more open. That, no doubt, makes a huge difference. If he’s getting in there and trying to prove [himself] to his own head, he already starts with an opponent inside himself, to see if he can do the things he did before the doping. So, to me, Sterling is a big favorite in this fight.”

Quotes via MMA Fighting

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