The greatest mixed martial arts (MMA) Featherweight of all time, Jose Aldo, will attempt to win back his belt opposite rising star, Max Holloway, this Saturday (Dec. 2, 2017) at UFC 218 inside Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan.
Heading into UFC 218, the biggest question to me is where exactly is Aldo in his career? The Brazilian is just 31 years old, but the more important detail is that Aldo has been fighting professionally for 13 years. At the same time, he put on one of the best performances of his career to completely nullify long-time top contender Frankie Edgar not that long ago.
After an undefeated decade, Aldo has now lost the title twice in two years.
All together, the signs point to Aldo’s career coming to an end sooner than later. However, the fact that Aldo is still fighting for a UFC title this deep in his career after setbacks stands as a testament to the legend’s fighting ability.
Let’s take a closer look at his skill set:
Striking
Even if he’s lost a slight step, Aldo is one of the sport’s best strikers. Once upon a time, Aldo was among the flashiest guys in the sport, jumping into knees or exploding wildly on a hair-trigger. For the last few years, however, Aldo has simplified his game quite a bit, allowing him to pick apart opponents without slowing him down.
At range, Aldo is a really nasty boxer. Since his first bout with Edgar, Aldo has relied on the jab more often. He uses the punch masterfully, jamming his opponent’s attempts to close the distance with ease. He also feints the punch well, allowing him to land the punch more accurately and throw off his foe’s head movement.
In addition, Aldo did a fantastic jab of drawing “The Answer” into counter punches. After cracking him with a good jab, Aldo would back off, inviting Edgar to lead. When that happened, Aldo would plant and counter with a cross or look to attack with a pivoting hook.
Speaking of Aldo’s pivots, the champion’s footwork is a huge part of his success. Whenever his foe is looking to move forward, Aldo is either pulling his lead leg back or executing a quick pivot. Either way, he’s creating distance or a new angle, which prevents takedowns and creates opportunities to counter.
When Aldo leads, many of his combinations stem from the left hook and cross. It’s very classic Muay Thai, as Aldo uses these power punches to get his foe moving before he rips home a low kick. Once these weapons begin to work in sync with one another, Aldo will actively begin feinting with them and toy with his opponents (GIF). When Aldo finds his range and starts to set things up, his complete control is amazing to watch.
Aldo’s low kick stands among the pantheon of great MMA weapons, somewhere between Georges St-Pierre’s jab and Kazushi Sakuraba’s low single. Unfortunately, he has been unable to use it consistently in the last couple years, which helps explain some of his difficulties.
Against Edgar, Aldo really restrained himself from throwing the low kick in order to avoid potential takedowns. Plus, he was winning anyway. Last time out, however, Aldo struggled to land the low kick, as Holloway pressured and kept his leg ready to check or counter. Additionally, Aldo’s camp claims that an injury affected his ability to kick, which could be true, especially since Aldo once broke his foot on “The Korean Zombie’s” knee.
Aldo’s bout against Lamas stands as his best low kicking in recent years. In addition to getting Lamas moving back before punting his lead leg, Aldo repeatedly countered kicks with the low kick. Lamas threw a lot of jumping or spinning kicks that were fairly telegraphed, allowing Aldo to catch the kick or lean away. Then, he’d strike as Lamas returned to position.
Aside from his low kick, Aldo may not commit to any one kick as much, but he does have a deep arsenal. He can fire off hard kicks to the body or head without issue, and Aldo has also found success with the occasional jumping or spinning kick. More often, Aldo will mix a straight teep up the middle, which discourages any wrestling from his opponents.
Aldo has several weapons in his game that are designed to make wrestling difficult. For example, he commonly throws hard knees up the middle, limp legging out of any attempt to catch the strike. Additionally, if a wrestler shoots from way too far out or covers up ducking, Aldo will fire off a hard uppercut (GIF).
It’s been a while since this part of his game has come into play, but Aldo is pretty violent in the clinch as well. In his bout with Kenny Florian, for example, Aldo defended takedowns then jammed knees into his opponent’s midsection, sucking the life out of “KenFlo.” In one of the more unique knockout wins on his record, Aldo managed to end Chad Mendes’ night early in their first contest. After breaking his foe’s grip from the back clinch, Aldo spun out and immediately fired a knee. Mendes was looking to hang on or transition into a double leg, but instead he ate full power shot to the jaw (GIF).
Wrestling
Aldo is perhaps the best wrestler in UFC who does not have a scholastic wrestling background. Despite facing a litany of credentialed wrestlers and talented takedown artists, Aldo has been able to remain standing for the vast majority of each of his fights.
Offensively, Aldo is an above-average wrestler. He rarely turns to his wrestling unless he’s fatigued or injured, like his bouts with Mark Hominick and Chan Sung Jung. In both cases, Aldo relied on a running double leg and often used clinch takedowns against “Korean Zombie.”
It really helps Aldo that most opponents are not expecting takedowns from him. He’s such a vicious striker that shooting is normally unnecessary and comes as a surprise. Plus, a reactive double leg is always effective against an opponent looking to close distance, which is a common strategy against Aldo.
More important, Aldo’s takedown defense is superb. Aldo’s hips are very strong, allowing him to sprawl out on the vast majority of takedowns. Alternatively, he’ll pivot his feet and take an angle, allowing him pressure hard on a whizzer and stop the shot (GIF).
Aldo has defended literally dozens of single takedowns using some combination of a frame, whizzer, and limp leg (GIF). In this week’s technique highlight, we take a look at why Aldo’s limp leg defense works so well.
Aldo’s ability to do damage as he defends takedowns is also very important. Whether it’s his knees in the clinch or hammer fists while his opponent clings to a leg, Aldo makes it difficult to continue to grapple and transition. When being bombarded by hard shots, focusing on the takedown becomes a struggle. In addition, this damage deters his opponents from shooting in the future, as they’re more likely to simply absorb free punches than successfully complete the takedown.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Though he’s a jiu-jitsu and Luta Livre black belt who actually had some hype as a prospect on the Brazilian jiu-jitsu scene years ago, we rarely see Aldo’s ground skills. Even when he does drag the fight to the mat, Aldo is not very aggressive with his jiu-jitsu.
From the top, Aldo is defensively sound with his hand position and posture. He’s active with his guard passes, but little else. When Aldo takes a dominant position, he usually looks to land ground strikes, with his pair of rear-naked choke attempts on Lamas as the exception.
Off his back, Aldo is rarely using jiu-jitsu. When he’s fresh, Aldo is able to explode back to his feet easily, and thus does not have to play guard. Then if he gets tired and taken down, Aldo is too fatigued to do anything other than close his guard and hold on.
It’s not a huge part of his game anymore.
Conclusion
Aldo is an all-time great, that much is set in stone. Much like Georges St. Pierre a few weeks ago, losing here does nothing to affect all that Aldo has already accomplished, but returning from setbacks to win unexpectedly does push his legacy to even greater heights.
*****
Andrew Richardson, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt, is an amateur champion who trains at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California. In addition to learning alongside world-class talent, Andrew has scouted opponents and developed winning strategies for several of the sport’s most elite fighters.