What is it that separates the best from the rest in the UFC? Is it an undefeated record? Is it being a multi-weight champion? Is it the most number of title defenses? Jose Aldo does not boast any of the above. Despite all his historic feats, Aldo is, unfortunately, most associated with his 13-second KO loss to Conor McGregor. Yet, in the annals of MMA history, ‘The King of Rio’ stands tall. His latest post-retirement retrospective pinpoints exactly why that is.
No matter how much the MMA community has started to appreciate Jose Aldo, it feels underwhelming considering what he has achieved in the sport. Back in 2015, “The King Of Rio” had been undefeated for 10 years, winning 18 straight fights across WEC, Pancrase, and the UFC, including nine title defenses. In less than a year after the crushing 13-second KO, he reclaimed the UFC featherweight title by beating Frankie Edgar, but then lost two consecutive title fights to Max Holloway and never touched gold again.
However, since losing the title for the last time, he’s fought 12 times and explained to Ariel Helwani why he was fine with all his opponents being top contenders or threatening up-and-coming prospects. The two-time UFC featherweight champ revealed he shies away from putting up fights against older opponents, even when they’re projected to sell more because of their combined popularity. The reason?
If a fight doesn’t have title implications, Aldo isn’t interested. He thanked the UFC for giving him tough prospects and fights that fuel his fire to reach the championship again: “No regrets, I’m only being thankful and grateful for Sean [Shelby, UFC matchmaker], for the matchmaking.”
“Junior” also answered why his heavily-anticipated fight with Dominick Cruz never took shape, “If I was getting super fights against older dudes, that means I’m not there. That means the dream of being a champ is dead. That means if I fought a guy like Cruz, maybe people would just see it like these are older dudes that are just putting the fight on for people to watch. That’s outside of that dream of wanting to be a champion and training for that.”
Jose Aldo on the matchmaking once he returned for his second run in the UFC:
“If I was getting super fights against older dudes, that means I’m not there. That means the dream of being a champ is dead. That means if I fought a guy like Dominick Cruz, maybe people would just see… pic.twitter.com/swieQTA2H5
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) May 20, 2025
The Brazilian legend couldn’t have fulfilled his dream to be a champion in a better way, as he is tied for the fifth most consecutive title defenses in UFC history (7) with Valentina Shevchenko. Considering he achieved this exceptional feat even before fighting McGregor ten years ago, it is unreal to imagine that he still put on a barn burner against Aiemann Zahabi at UFC 315 and completely shut down the offense of other prospects in Mario Bautista and Jonathan Martinez.
Jose Aldo is the only fighter Merab Dvalishvili couldn’t take down
Yes, read that again! Merab Dvalishvili, who throws takedowns like punches, couldn’t take down Aldo once in sixteen attempts across three rounds. This was in 2022 when he was inching closer to retirement, while “The Machine” was becoming an undeniable title contender in his prime. To put things into perspective, Dvalishvili landed 16/49 takedowns on Petr Yan, 7/30 against Umar Nurmagomedov, and 5/11 against Henry Cejudo.
I bring this random fact to you to strengthen my case about Aldo’s out-of-the-world longevity and unmatched passion for the sport. Unlike Anderson Silva, BJ Penn, and Tony Ferguson, he didn’t go on depressing losing streaks or drastically lowered the level of competition he was facing. Against all physical and mental odds, he stood tall and is easily one of the best inspirations for a fighter.
Even at 38, Aldo’s been putting on absolute shows for the fans. He arguably won his last fight, too, but regardless of the decision, anyone who’s followed his career would be satisfied with “The King of Rio” going out on his shield, right?
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