For the second time, José Aldo has retired from MMA.
The 39-year-old made an appearance during the UFC’s return to Rio de Janeiro on Saturday’s Fight Night card, stating he would not be fighting again.
Aldo previously announced his retirement in September 2022, but he ventured into boxing and would return to the UFC in May 2024, fighting three more times for the promotion.
He will be remembered as one of the top fighters of his era and arguably the greatest featherweight in history, having held the 145-pound title for seven years and set a record for the most title defenses in the division’s history.
Aldo won ten of his first eleven professional fights and signed with the WEC, debuting on the prelims of a major card in June 2008, headlined by Urijah Faber vs. Jens Pulver on the Versus network. After four wins in the promotion, he won an eliminator bout with Cub Swanson by stopping him in eight seconds to earn a title fight against Mike Thomas Brown.
Aldo defeated the incumbent at WEC 44 and kicked off the historical reign. In his first defense, he headlined WEC’s first pay-per-view in April 2010, decimating Faber with some of the most devastating leg kicks and giving Aldo an air of invincibility.
The UFC absorbed the featherweight division, and Aldo was recognized as the promotion’s first featherweight champion. He was in the co-main event of the largest attended UFC event in history at that time when he beat Mark Hominick at UFC 129 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto in front of 55,000 spectators.
While his UFC record of title defenses is listed at seven, it should be nine to include the two he had in the WEC. He beat the who’s who of the division from Chad Mendes (twice), Frankie Edgar, and Kenny Florian, but had his largest profile fight in 2015.
Conor McGregor was a phenom in the featherweight class. After beating Dennis Siver in January 2015, McGregor stormed into the crowd, into Aldo’s face, and set up the obvious title fight, which would be the biggest featherweight fight in the sport’s history.
The two were set to fight in July 2015 at UFC 189, but just over a week before, Aldo suffered a rib injury and was replaced by Chad Mendes, delaying the fight by five months. They met at UFC 194 and in one of the most stunning outcomes, McGregor caught Aldo as he charged at the challenger and finished the champion in thirteen seconds. It was a loss that would sting Aldo for years, and they never had a rematch.
Aldo would reclaim the gold in 2016 after McGregor left the division. He beat Frankie Edgar for an interim version of the belt and was promoted to undisputed champion that year.
The heir apparent in the weight class was Max Holloway, who unseated Aldo for good in June 2017 and followed up by stopping Aldo a second time in December to take control of the featherweight throne.
Despite many concerns about Aldo’s weight cutting over the years, he made the transition to the bantamweight division and never missed weight in his eight fights at 135 pounds. Aldo lost to Petr Yan in July 2020 for the vacant bantamweight title in his final championship fight. He rebounded with wins against quality opponents in Marlon Vera, Pedro Munhoz, and Rob Font, but stepped into the deep end of the pool at UFC 278 and was soundly beaten by current champion Merab Dvalishvili in August 2022.
After retiring from MMA, he was able to pursue his goal of boxing. He had one exhibition bout and two professional fights in 2023, with a draw against fellow MMA fighter Jeremy Stephens and a decision win against Esteban Gabriel Espindola in Rio de Janeiro.
When the UFC returned to Brazil with a pay-per-view in May 2024, Aldo stepped back into the octagon despite being inducted into the company’s Hall of Fame the year prior. It was a successful return, as he earned a decision over Jonathan Martinez at UFC 301. It was followed by decision losses to Mario Bautista and a close fight with Aiemann Zahabi at UFC 315 this past May in Montreal.
Under the Nova União banner and trainer André Pederneiras, he had one of the legendary title reigns in MMA history, with some of the most incredible takedown defense exhibited at that high a level, precision striking, and implemented some of the most destructive leg kicks in the sport until the latter stages when he abandoned that offensive tool.
