José Aldo

José Aldo Júnior
Born	José Aldo (1986-09-09) September 9, 1986 Manaus, Brazil
Nationality	Brazilian
Height	5 ft 7 in (170 cm)
Weight	145 lb (66 kg; 10 st 5 lb)
Division	Featherweight Lightweight (2005)
Reach	70 in (178 cm)
Style	Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Stance	Orthodox
Fighting out of	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Team	Nova União[1] Black House
Rank	Black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Years active	2004–present
Mixed martial arts record
Total	25
Wins	24
By knockout	14
By submission	2
By decision	8
Losses	1
By submission	1
Website	Official UFC Profile
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog
last updated on: October 1, 2010

José Aldo (Portuguese pronunciation: [ʒoˈzɛ ˈawdu]; born September 9, 1986) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist, who competes as a featherweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Aldo was the fourth and final WEC Featherweight Champion and thus, was awarded the UFC Featherweight Championship during the UFC/WEC merger.^[2] He was named Sherdog's 2009 Fighter of the Year.^[3] As of January 17, 2014, he is #2 in official UFC pound-for-pound rankings^[4] and ranked the #1 featherweight in the world by Sherdog.^[5] Aldo is primarily a Muay Thai striker and has won the majority of his fights by KO/TKO.

Background

When Aldo was young, he was keen on football and wanted to become a professional football player. His aspirations were supported by his father. But Aldo grew tired of getting beaten up in fights on the street, thus starting to train capoeira to learn ways to defend himself better in brawls. Aldo used to train capoeira on the streets after the classes, once gaining attention of a Jiu-Jitsu trainer. He invited Aldo to try one session of Jiu-Jitsu and after the session, Aldo decided to leave capoeira to start training Jiu-Jitsu. At age of seventeen, he moved from Manaus to Rio de Janeiro having only his clothes with him and determination to train mixed martial arts there until he achieved something in the sport.^[6] He is a teammate and training partner of current UFC Bantamweight Champion Renan Barão at Nova União.

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

Known by the nickname "Junior", José Aldo da Silva Oliveira Júnior fought his first professional MMA fight at the age of seventeen at EcoFight 1 on August 10, 2004. He fought fellow countryman and newcomer Mário Bigola, whom he defeated by knockout (head-kick) eighteen seconds into the first round. It would be Bigola's first and only professional fight.

Aldo fought fellow Brazilian Hudson Rocha, in his second fight for Shooto Brazil. The fight was ended by doctor stoppage at the end of the first round due to a cut over Rocha's left eye, which was caused by a flying knee thrown by Aldo followed by a barrage of punches. Rocha was able to get back to his feet only to be met with more strikes and a knee before Aldo kicked his legs out from under him.

Five months later he fought MMA neophyte Luiz de Paula at Shooto – Brazil 7. Aldo took de Paula down in the clinch early on in the fight. He quickly gained mount, where he rained down punches before transitioning to an arm-triangle choke, forcing de Paula to tap at 1:54 of the first round.

Aldo spent the next several years jumping from organization to organization. He next fought Vale Tudo and Shooto veteran Aritano Silva Barbosa, who had lost four of his last five fights, at Rio MMA Challenge 1 on May 12, 2005. Aldo landed two knees to the chin of Barbosa in the opening seconds of the fight, sending him to the canvas; where Aldo swarmed with punches. Barbosa tried for the single, but Aldo pulled away and threw two soccer kicks to the prone Barbosa before the referee stopped the fight at twenty seconds of the first round, awarding Aldo the victory via knockout. Less than two months later Aldo fought newcomer Anderson Silvério at Meca World Vale Tudo 12. He also defeated Silvério with soccer kicks, 8:33 into the first round.

Aldo then traveled to England, where he fought Micky Young at FX3- Battle of Britain on October 15, 2005. He defeated Young just 1:05 into the first round by TKO (punches).

Loss to Azevedo

Only a month later, Aldo fought respected Luta Livre black-belt Luciano Azevedo at Jungle Fight 5. Aldo won the first round, winning most of the exchanges with solid combinations and leg kicks and stuffing Azevedo's numerous takedown attempts (he was nearly taken down early in the round, but appeared to purposefully fall out of the ropes to force a restart from the referee), as well as landing a solid knee as Azevedo went for a takedown. Aldo shrugged off Azevedo's first few takedown attempts in the second, but was eventually taken down against the ropes by a double-leg. Aldo raised his hips up looking for triangles and other submissions, but Azevedo easily defended.

He soon passed to half-guard and side control. He then transitioned to full mount. Aldo quickly gave up his back and rolled into the ropes. The referee restarted the fight in the center of the ring, where Azevedo locked his legs around Aldo in a body triangle. Aldo controlled Azevedo's hands for several seconds before falling back into the corner of the ring, where Azevedo was able to secure the fight-ending rear-naked choke 3:37 into round two. The loss was not only Aldo's first as a professional, but the only defeat he has suffered in his career so far.^[7]

Rebound

Aldo rebounded in his next fight against the then-undefeated Thiago "Minu" Meller at Gold Fighters Championship I on May 20, 2006, winning a unanimous decision in a very close fight. Round one could have gone either way, with Aldo getting two takedowns (both times getting into half-guard) and cutting Meller's right eyebrow with a left hand; while Meller went for two armbars, nearly hyper-extending Aldo's right arm in the first attempt before Aldo was able to escape. Aldo won a lackluster round two, again taking Meller down and landing some hammerfists. A seemingly exhausted Aldo stalled against the ropes much of the third round, holding Meller in the clinch. Both landed some solid strikes in the few exchanges there were in the round.^[8][9][10]

Pancrase

In his last bout before joining the WEC, Aldo fought Pancrase veteran Shoji Maruyama in the Pancrase 2007 Neo-Blood Tournament Finals. Aldo won a unanimous decision, dominating Maruyama standing and on the ground. In the first exchange Aldo landed a front kick to Maruyama's body, sending him to the canvas. He was able to land the cleaner shots in exchanges, where he connected with leg kicks and knees while in the clinch. He took Maruyama down almost at will with trips and body-locks; whereas Maruyama failed in all his attempts to get Aldo to the mat. On the ground he was able get side control and top and back mount.

World Extreme Cagefighting

Aldo made his debut for mixed martial arts promoter World Extreme Cagefighting on June 1, 2008 at the Arco Arena in Sacramento, California. In his debut with the organization he defeated renowned fighter Alexandre Franca Nogueira at WEC 34. Aldo won his fight on June 7, 2009 at WEC 41 against Cub Swanson via double flying knee eight seconds into the first round.

Aldo won the WEC Featherweight Championship against Mike Brown on November 18, 2009 at WEC 44.^[11] He won by TKO in the second round. He was able to get Brown in the back mount, where he landed a barrage of punches, ending the fight at 1:20 of the round.^[12] José Aldo was the recipient of Fighter of the Year accolades for 2009 from both MMA Live and Sherdog.com.^[13]

Aldo faced former title holder Urijah Faber on April 24, 2010 at WEC 48. Aldo defeated Faber via unanimous decision (49–45, 49–45, 50–45^[14]). Aldo was able to use effective leg and body kicks (a total of thirty-two^[15]) to stifle Faber, sending him to the canvas several times with solid kicks. For the remaining 1:40 of the fourth round Aldo trapped Faber in the crucifix, peppering him with punches and elbows. Aldo did not engage most of the fifth (although he did land a body shot that nearly crumpled Faber). This was Aldo's first decision win in his WEC career.^[16][17]

Aldo defended his title against Manvel Gamburyan by KO at 1:32 of the second round on September 30, 2010 at WEC 51.^[18]

Aldo and his camp have often mentioned his desire to eventually make the move up in weight to the lightweight division (155-pound limit). Having rolled through all of his opposition in the WEC featherweight class, the UFC offered Aldo a fight against Kenny Florian, who has challenged for the UFC lightweight title. Aldo and his camp declined the fight, instead deciding to remain at featherweight for the time being to defend his WEC belt.^[19]

Ultimate Fighting Championship

On October 28, 2010, World Extreme Cagefighting merged with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. As part of the merger, all WEC fighters were transferred to the UFC.^[20] Aldo became the inaugural UFC Featherweight Champion, receiving the first ever UFC featherweight title belt on Saturday, November 20, 2010.^[21] His first defense was set to take place at UFC 125 against Josh Grispi.^[22][23] Aldo was forced to withdraw from UFC 125 after suffering a neck injury^[24] just three days after receiving his UFC belt.^[25] Dustin Poirier stepped in to take his place and fought Grispi at UFC 125.^[26]

Aldo made his first title defense against Mark Hominick on April 30, 2011 at UFC 129 by defeating the Canadian by a unanimous decision in a bout that earned Fight of the Night honors.^[27]

Following UFC 129, Dana White mentioned in the post-fight press conference that Aldo could face Chad Mendes as soon as UFC 133. However, Aldo would be sidelined until October recovering from various injuries sustained during the Hominick bout.^[28][29]

Aldo had his second title defense against Kenny Florian on October 8, 2011 at UFC 136,^[30] where he won by unanimous decision.

Aldo faced Chad Mendes on January 14, 2012 at UFC 142 he spent most of the fight defending Mendes' take-down attempts with ease (albeit grabbing the fence once). Aldo won via KO in the final second of the first round. He celebrated the victory in the crowd with the fans, many of which were from his hometown.

Aldo was expected to face Erik Koch on July 21, 2012 at UFC 149.^[31] However, Aldo was forced out of the bout citing an injury and the bout was postponed October 13, 2012 at UFC 153.^[32] On August 31, it was announced that Koch was forced out of the bout with another injury and replaced by Frankie Edgar.^[33] Then on September 11, Aldo himself was also forced to pull out of the bout with a foot injury.^[34]

The rescheduled bout with Edgar took place on February 2, 2013 at UFC 156 where Aldo retained his belt via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 48-47). Aldo landed multiple leg kicks and punches throughout the fight while defending the majority of Edgar's takedown attempts.^[35] The performance earned both participants Fight of the Night honors.

Aldo was expected to face Anthony Pettis on August 3, 2013 at UFC 163.^[36] Following UFC 157, Dana White stated that Aldo's camp was refusing to fight Anthony Pettis as they felt he was not worthy. White said that the fight will still happen, while announcing that if Jose Aldo wins he will get a Lightweight Title shot.^[37] However, in mid-June Pettis pulled out of the bout citing a knee injury and was replaced by Chan Sung Jung.^[38] After seemingly getting the better of Jung over the first three rounds, Aldo defeated Jung via fourth round TKO, finishing Jung with a flurry of strikes after Jung suffered a shoulder injury while throwing a punch.^[39] Later it was revealed that Aldo broke his foot early in the first round when a leg kick hit Jung's knee.^[40]

On February 1, 2014 at UFC 169 Aldo defended his title by defeating Ricardo Lamas in dominating fashion, by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46). The victory was Aldo's sixth consecutive title defense and seventeenth consecutive win overall.

Personal life

José Aldo was not very well off growing up, as WEC general manager Reed Harris states, "They were telling me that Wagnney Fabiano would be at the gym, and José would show up, and Wagnney would say, 'Have you eaten today or yesterday?' If not, they would go get him some food. That's how poor he was." When asked in an interview by the WEC what his motivation is, Aldo replied "My personal desires. My dream, my goal is to own my own house. This dream motivates me more and more as I get closer to fulfilling it". ^[41]

Aldo received a scar on the left side of his face as a child, when his sisters rolled him into a barbecue pit while his mother was distracted, which led to him gaining the nickname "Scarface".^[42]

Aldo is married. His wife has a purple belt in jiu-jitsu and has fought twice professionally in Muay-Thai.^[43] In Brazil, he is well known for his fighting talent and for being an association football supporter of Clube de Regatas do Flamengo and English Premier League club Chelsea FC.

Championships and accomplishments

Mixed martial arts

• Ultimate Fighting Championship
  • UFC Featherweight Championship (One time; Current; First)
  • Six successful title defenses
  • Fight of the Night (Two times)

• World Extreme Cagefighting
  • WEC Featherweight Championship (One time, Final)
  • Two successful title defenses
  • Knockout of the Night (Three times)
  • Most consecutive wins in WEC history (Eight)

• Sherdog Awards
  • 2009 Fighter of the Year^[44]

• World MMA Awards
  • 2010 Charles "Mask" Lewis Fighter of the Year

Mixed martial arts record

See also

• List of current mixed martial arts champions

References

External links

• Official UFC Profile
• Professional MMA record for Jose Aldo from Sherdog
• Jose Aldo BJJ Heroes Page
• Jose Aldo Facebook
• Top 5 Jose Aldo Knockouts

v t e Ultimate Fighting Championship current champions Heavyweight Cain Velasquez Light Heavyweight Jon Jones Middleweight Chris Weidman Welterweight Vacant Lightweight Anthony Pettis Featherweight José Aldo Bantamweight Renan Barão Flyweight Demetrious Johnson Women's Bantamweight Ronda Rousey