Scouting Report: Irene Aldana

Irene Aldana

Born: March 26, 1988 (Age: 35) in Culiacan, Mexico
Division: Women’s Bantamweight
Height: 5’9”
Reach: 68.5”
Record: 14-6 (7-4 UFC)
Association: Lobo Gym
Stage of Career: Prime to Post-Prime

Summary: Aldana is a dangerous but limited striker who also poses some danger in the grappling department, though it can be a weakness against certain opponents. She has two major weapons in the standup: her right cross and the left hook. Both are powerful, accurate shots, and the left hook, in particular, is sudden and led to a knockout of Ketlen Vieira in 2019. Aldana’s jab remains surprisingly light and vulnerable to counters, and she lacks other punches. Her kicks are also fairly weak, tentative and telegraphed. However, her defense has proven to be quite sturdy thanks to well-timed retreats. She circles away from power and blocks with her hands, which she keeps in a high guard. Aldana can be taken down but possesses some nice sweeps off her back. From top position, she features potent ground-and-pound. Aldana has strong cardio that allows her to fight hard for all three rboounds, but she will occasionally make some poor tactical choices.

STRIKING

• Stance: Orthodox.
• Hand Speed: Average.
• Jab: Slightly below average. It is reasonably straight, carries some speed and sets up the right cross, but it is soft, weak and oftentimes telegraphed. Furthermore, Aldana drops the arm after throwing the jab instead of pulling it back at shoulder level, leaving her open to counters.
• Cross: A powerful, accurate punch.
• Left Hook: Her best punch. In addition to the Vieira knockout, she also dropped Yano Santos with it. A technical weapon, Aldana throws it with a tight arc and solid rotation. It is fairly sudden and features power and accuracy.
• Overhand Right: Too straight-armed and often connects with the side of the hand. She rarely throws it.
• Uppercuts: A mixed back. She throws a left to the body that often lands clean but lacks power.
• Solitary Striker or Volume Puncher: Aside from the occasional one-two, she tends to throw one shot at a time.
• Favorite Combination(s): The one-two, though opponents only have to concern themselves with the second punch in the sequence.
• Leg Kicks: Rarely throws them, as they are slow, tentative, telegraphed and carry little impact.
• Body Kicks: Only used sparingly.
• Head Kicks: Never utilizes them.
• Chains Kicks to Punches: No.

Aldana’s striking generally revolves around two weapons: a consistent and powerful right cross that frequently finds its target and an excellent left hook—a tight, accurate and sudden shot with the capability to stop an opponent. Beyond those punches, there is little to fear. Her overhand right remains poor and her jab, though it sets up the right cross, is soft and open to be countered. Aldana’s kicks are also weak and often telegraphed. However, her defense has improved considerably over the years. She retreats well, blocks with her hands and circles away from power on the outside.

CLINCH

• Physical Strength: Fair. As a relatively large bantamweight, she can push weaker opponents off of her.
• Technique: Slightly below average, as she can be slow to react to opponents changing levels or switching positions.
• Knees: Average. She sometimes fails to turn her hips and can struggle to get them high enough in one fluid motion.
• Elbows: Does not throw them.
• Defense Against Knees/Elbows: Sound. Avoids close-range strikes well.

Aldana does not like to stay in the clinch for long, as she has proven vulnerable to takedowns there. She often succeeds in pushing away opponents and can deliver an occasional knee strike to the body, though it usually lacks meaningful oomph.

GRAPPLING

• Wrestling from a Shot: Weak in the rare occasions when she uses it.
• Wrestling in the Clinch: Almost non-existent.
• Takedown Defense: Aldana can shut down poor attempts, though she does not angle off at all and tends to get caught off-guard. She was taken down easily and at will by Holly Holm and surrendered a pair of takedowns to Macy Chiasson.
• Ability to Return to Feet: She has the ability to wall walk when the opponent fails to apply ample pressure but lacks other tools.
• Submissions: She shows some ability with the armbar when taking the back, as she did against Bethe Correia, yet she could not finished an armbar Chiasson seemingly gifted to her.
• Defense/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from the Bottom: Aldana has swept multiple opponents—she did so against Chiasson by using a heel hook—but she remains susceptible to effective ground-and-pound.
• Top control: Limited. She will often posture up and allow scrambles that she tends to lose.
• Ground-and-Pound: Throws hard punches while using her body well, though she needs to posture to do so, resulting in a somewhat telegraphed attack. She did manage to finish Santos with it.

Aldana’s grappling can be both a liability and a weapon. Her takedown defense remains average at best, and she has difficulty getting back to a standing position. Aldana can also be exposed by an opponent who unleashes significant ground-and-pound. With that said, she can deftly hit certain sweeps from her back. She can also be effective from top position with attempted armbars and fairly powerful ground-and-pound, though her need to posture up allows some opponents to escape to their feet.

INTANGIBLES

• Athleticism/General Physical Strength: She moves well enough for a bantamweight and looks to be moderately powerful.
• Cardio: Only slows down marginally while fighting at a fairly energetic pace, and she has had enough left in the tank to deliver a pair of stoppages in the third round.
• Chin: She was knocked down by Leslie Smith and knocked out by Larissa Pacheco earlier in her career. Both resulted from heavy blows. Aldana has looked sturdy enough against weaker connections.
• Recuperative Powers: Aldana survived against Smith despite being dazed for a time.
• Intelligence: She has shown little improvements here and there during her UFC run. She lost to Raquel Pennington due to poor fight IQ. She failed to stand up despite being afforded numerous opportunities to do so. Later, Aldana pulled Pennington on top of her, losing the third round as a result of being on the bottom. With that said, she remains calm under duress and has capitalized on the mistakes of her opponents in recent outings.