UFC Legend Jose Aldo has Retired From MMA

UFC Legend Jose Aldo has Retired From MMA

One of the UFC’s greatest fighters of all time, Jose Aldo, is stepping away from the octagon.

It was reported by MMA Junkie on Sunday that the 36-year-old Brazilian has decided to end his UFC contract with one fight remaining with the promotion agreeing to the retirement.

The news of his retirement is not overly surprising as he had reportedly told his most recent opponent, Merab Dvalishvili, that he was done fighting after losing to the Georgian by unanimous decision at UFC 278 in August.

The loss to Dvalishvili ended a three-fight winning streak that put Aldo’s name back in the title conversation. His hot streak came following a knockout loss to Petr Yan in a fight for the vacant UFC bantamweight title in mid-2020.

Aldo is leaving the sport that he has become a legend in after 12 years in the UFC. He retires with a record of 31-8 while going 21-7 in the UFC and WEC (World Extreme Cagefighting), a promotion that blended into the UFC following its extinction in 2010.

During his 18-year MMA career, Aldo reached the peak of MMA by becoming the first ever UFC featherweight champion in which he defended his belt seven times over a five-year reign. Before being promoted to UFC featherweight champion, Aldo held the WEC featherweight belt defending it twice. Aldo went on to recapture the UFC featherweight belt after Conor McGregor left the division by moving to lightweight.

Throughout his career, he has fought and beaten some of the toughest guys in his division such as Cub Swanson, Urijah Faber, Frankie Edgar, and Chan Sung Jung (The Korean Zombie). Aldo was not afraid to get in the cage with anyone taking fights with McGregor, current pound-for-pound #1 Alexander Volkanovski, and Max Holloway, three of the most dangerous guys in the featherweight division’s history.

Despite recent setbacks in his career such as losing five of seven fights from 2017 to 2020 Aldo was still a staple of the sport and rebounded by beating Marlon Vera, Pedro Munhoz, and Rob Font.

There are not many fighters that deserved the respect of everyone in the sport more than Aldo did. Now, by leaving the UFC there is a chance that we could still see Aldo fight again in boxing or grappling similar to what we have seen with UFC middleweight GOAT Anderson Silva.

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No matter what happens next for Aldo, he will always be an icon of the MMA world and a UFC legend.

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