Hardcore FC announces Jose Aldo will ‘99.9%’ make his boxing debut on their next card

Aldo had one bout left in his deal with the UFC when he announced his retirement from MMA. In December 2021 at UFC Vegas 44, he beat Rob Font by a unanimous decision. His last UFC outing was in August of 2022 at UFC 278 and he lost to Merab Dvalishvili by unanimous decision.

Aldo was 36 when he decided to retire. Up To that point he had a total of 20 outings under the UFC banner, with 13 wins and 7 losses.

Founder & the head of the Russian promotion Hardcore FC Anatoliy Sulyanov announced that in March 2023 he will be holding an event in Dubai. This will mark Jose Aldo’s debut in the promotion if negotiations don’t fall through.

Head of the promotion, Sulyanov announced to telecomasia:

“On March 18th there will be a big Hardcore Boxing event in Dubai. I’m not going to tell you the names yet, but José Aldo and most likely even Sergey “Crusher” Kovalev will be on the card. Aldo will fight with 99.9 percent probability, we’re negotiating with Sergey now.”

It’s unclear if the promotion plans to have Aldo box or compete in a bare knuckle event from the press release however it’s more likely it’s about boxing.

Jose Aldo was in talks with Hardcore FC as far back as October

Back in October, Hardcore FC offered Aldo a contract to box against Samat Abdurakhmanov.

Abdurakhmanov last competed against Lendrush “Leko” Akopian in June of this year, as part of the finale of the second season of Hardcore league. Samat won by TKO in the fourth round.

Aldo’s Hardcore FC contract isn’t finalized so there’s been no official word on who he will be boxing.

Aldo has contemplated boxing for years.

“Boxing is a possibility,” Aldo shared with MMAFighting after his retirement from MMA.

“It was always a dream I had in my life, I never hid that from anyone. It was always a dream. But let’s see. Everybody says I’m still young, that I have a few years [left]. First, for now, with the birth of my son, I want to enjoy my family, and then I’ll think of the professional side.”