Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
A bad stoppage resulted in Aldo taking some serious punishment at UFC 251, but it doesn’t sound like it’s affected his desire to keep fighting.
Depending on who’s fighting on any given card, UFC commentators have a habit of spamming the ‘greatest featherweight of all time’ line. And to be fair, there are a lot of really, really great featherweights. But Jose Aldo is the OG greatest featherweight, holding the title from 2009 in the WEC days through the weightclass’ inauguration into the UFC in 2011 and seven defenses. That’s a hell of a run that no one has even come close to touching. Not Max Holloway. Certainly not Conor McGregor.
On Saturday night at UFC 251, the 33 year old Aldo attempted to add onto his career legacy by capturing another title at 135 pounds.
Unfortunately, he ran into a brick wall named Petr Yan.
It’s another testament to Aldo’s skills and longevity in the sport that he was as competitive as he was against the 27 year old Russian. For four and a half rounds, Aldo hung with the ascendant Yan, keeping things tight but clearly taking the harder shots in exchanges. Had the final moments of the fight not ended up a brutal botch on the part of the referee that saw Yan wail on a turtled Aldo for over a minute, we’d be concentrating on how good Aldo looked. But the terrible stoppage is now the big takeaway from the fight.
“Horrible, horrible stoppage by the referee,” UFC president Dana White said at the post-fight press conference. “It should’ve been stopped way sooner, you know. It looks like we have to tighten up our refs and judges here in Fight Island.”
White was quick to acknowledge Aldo’s continued ability to hang with the best of his division.
“I thought Aldo looked great for people that were criticizing him saying he doesn’t deserve another title shot,” he said. “He fought the next guy lined up for a title shot and he looked damn good doing it, he can do whatever he wants.”
So what does Aldo want?
In a statement on Instagram, Aldo made a statement on the fight and his determination to come back better than ever.
“Today I woke up thinking about what to say to everyone, and what I have to say is that defeat is part of the sport, it is part of my life and only one who does not fight does not lose,” Aldo wrote. “I did my best in this fight, I did my best and best in training, I did my best in my diet, even in times of pandemic I fought for what I wanted, but unfortunately it didn’t work out.”
“Nobody more than I really wanted that belt, I really wanted to make history but my opponent did better yesterday and he has his merits. But people tend to carry the idea of ??a perfect world and forget that losing a battle does not make you capable of humiliating, let alone discarding the other. Empathy is always putting yourself in the other’s shoes. I will come back much stronger than I already am.”
“My gratitude goes out to my Nova União team, my friends, fans and my family to whom I dedicate my best every day.
Strength and honor always! God is with us!”
What do you think, Maniacs? Who should be next for Aldo?