Eduardo Dantas understands that it’s been several years since he and teammate Jose Aldo sparred with Petr Yan. But, based off what he saw, and what he sees today, the Nova Uniao fighter believes Aldo will add the UFC’s bantamweight title to his resume.

Dantas has a “hunch” Aldo will finish Yan and early

Aldo and Yan have been booked to fight for the vacant bantamweight title at UFC 251, which will go down on July 11th on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.

Leading up to the fight, there probably won’t be much trash talking going on between Aldo and Yan, as the two trained together in 2016. Yan headed to the famed, Nova Uniao gym in Brazil prior to his UFC arrival.

Well, recently Aldo’s longtime teammate Dantas, spoke with MMA Fighting. While reflecting on Yan’s time at Nova Uniao, Dantas said this.

“Based on the training I had with Yan and Aldo — we’re obviously in a different time now, four years later — you can’t compete them technically,” Dantas said.

“I’ve seen so-called specialists say that Yan’s boxing and kickboxing are better than Junior’s. I think that’s a huge mistake because if you really analyse their boxing, it’s completely different.

“If you stop and look at the strikers they have fought, it’s completely different. If Yan fought one guy that is tough on the feet, that’s already too much.

You can’t compare. Yan might be younger, he’s coming fully motivated, he trains really hard, but you can’t compare them technique-wise. To me, Junior is way more complete.”

And how does Dantas see the July 11th bout playing out? The former Bellator champ had this to say.

“It’s a good matchup because Yan and Aldo move forward the whole time,” Dantas said. “My hunch is Junior knocks him out in the second round. If he doesn’t knock him out, it would be five rounds of suffering for Yan, getting beat up a lot.

Of course that Yan has great cardio and Junior is rising… If I had to guess, I’d bet on Junior by second-round knockout.

“(Aldo) stayed unbeaten for 10 years, taking everyone down at featherweight with a really bad diet. He’s on a diet for the first time of his life now at bantamweight. He’s training more focused and eating way healthier. He went from water into wine.

I’m not saying this because I’m his friend, I say this based on what I see in training, his cardio and his technique. It’s his destiny, he will be the bantamweight champion.”

Reaction?

It’s interesting to hear Dantas’s comments about Aldo being more complete. In terms of striking variety, Aldo is renowned/feared for his leg kicks. But, he’s really gotten away from using them in recent fights.

There’s been a debate as to why.

You also have to wonder if the 27-year-old Yan will have the jump on the 33-year-old Aldo speed wise. But, if Aldo can halt the rise of Yan, and added a second division’s title to his resume, it will be a massive, massive boost to his legacy. 

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