It was a lot closer than his first meeting with Chad Mendes, but Jose Aldo once against defended his belt from the Team Alpha Male standout.
Although Mendes attempted eight takedowns, he didn’t seem overly hesitant to stand with the champion. While that didn’t work out so well, he did seemingly rock Aldo on multiple occasions.
Still, Mendes was also hurt by multiple strikes thrown by the titleholder, including an unfortunate blow after the horn had sounded to signal the end of the opening round. Aldo was never warned for the illegal blow, and Mendes may not have been the same over the four rounds that followed.
His win may be tainted, but Aldo did continue his reign as featherweight champion. The Brazilian is now tied with Jon Jones for the most consecutive title defenses among current UFC champions, and that doesn’t include his time as WEC champion.