Jose Aldo is leaving.PHOTO: UFC
April 2011 to August 2022. First and last fight in UFC statistics. These are the two milestones that mark Jose Aldo’s nourishing and memorable career, he won’t add more. After twenty duels between the elite came the farewell. At the age of thirty-six, the Brazilian is saying goodbye to the prestigious combat sports league.
Jose Aldo’s legendary career is over. The two-time UFC featherweight champion is saying goodbye to MMA. After an eighteen-year career, the full stop came. A fighter who earned a reputation as one of the greatest fighters in the history of combat sports is leaving.
Aldo is widely regarded as the greatest featherweight fighter of all time. He scored a total of 31 wins and 8 defeats. MMA Fighting has confirmed that Aldo’s team has negotiated a release from his UFC contract with one fight remaining, meaning he can pursue a much-discussed transition to boxing or other combat sports.
He made his professional debut in August 2004. In 2010, he moved to the UFC, where he was immediately promoted to the status of the inaugural UFC Featherweight Champion. He successfully defended this title seven times in a row before losing it to Conor McGregor at UFC 194. Here he fell in 13 seconds. He later won the interim title at UFC 200.
In 2019, Aldo moved up to bantamweight where he also got a title shot after losing to Marlon Moraes. At UFC 251, he lost to Petr Yan via fifth-round TKO, but bounced back from that loss with wins over Marlon Vera, Pedro Munhoz, and Rob Font.
He also has notable wins over some of the best to ever fight. Frankie Edgar, Urijah Faber, Cub Swanson, Ricardo Lamas, Kenny Florian and Chad Mendes were not enough for him in the cage.
Aldo leaves, but his legacy does not fade.
