Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) featherweight champion, Jose Aldo, silenced his weight-cutting critics after successfully dropping down to the 135-pound division and putting on a strong performance against the No. 1-ranked bantamweight in the world.

I guess Dana White was wrong.

Aldo routinely struggled to hit the featherweight mark so it was not unreasonable to think that bantamweight was out of reach; however, his team paired “Junior” with the appropriate doctors to make sure the drop was completed safely and successfully.

“Many athletes tend to follow a protein diet before the weigh-ins,” nutritionist Dr. Priscila Antunes told MMA Fighting. “I’ve had that experience before but I think it broke my athletes. When I did the ketogenic diet with him, it worked. Reading the scientific paper is one thing, but making someone follow that during a moment of stress before a fight is completely different, but it worked.”

Aldo (28-6) lost a close split-decision to Marlon Moraes at UFC 245 earlier this month is Las Vegas, a fight that “Junior” argues was scored incorrectly. In fact, there’s even talk about booking the Brazilian for a bantamweight title fight against Henry Cejudo.

Who was recently demoted to Double C.

Related Aldo Inks Longterm Contract With UFC

Aldo has already proved he can make the bantamweight limit, but I think the question moving forward is how sustainable a career at 135 pounds can be for him, longterm. It may depend on how much weight he allows himself to gain in between fights.