Former UFC Champion, GOAT featherweight Jose Aldo is retiring from MMA

Jose Aldo, one of MMA’s most popular personalities and former longtime featherweight champion, appears to be quitting the gloves and retiring from MMA

One of the greatest careers in MMA history and arguably the greatest bantamweight fighter of all time appears to be ending its day.

According to a report by fightJose Aldo will retire from the sport.

Aldo has reportedly reached an agreement with the ufc to end his contract without fighting the last fight remaining on the deal. The UFC will grant him his release to retire and Aldo has already been removed from the promotion’s ranking pool.

With aldo Free from the UFC, there’s still a chance he might venture into another combat sport like boxing, like Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort did before him, or jiu-jitsu or muay thai.

Jose Aldo is reportedly retiring from MMA after nearly 20 years in the sport

Aldo made his professional MMA debut in August 2004, scoring seven straight first-round wins before losing at lightweight. He bounced back with three straight wins before joining the WEC.

Aldo quickly built his name with four straight wins before stopping Cub Swanson in just eight seconds in a featherweight title eliminator at WEC 41. Then at WEC 44 he defeated Mike Brown to win the WEC Featherweight Title, beginning one of the longest reigns at the top of an MMA division.

Aldo successfully defended the belt against Urijah Faber and Manny Gamburyan before being promoted to the UFC where he was crowned the inaugural UFC Featherweight Champion.

From there, Aldo continued to build his dominance, defeating Mark Hominick, Kenny Florian, Chad Mendes (twice), Frankie Edgar, “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung, and Ricardo Lamas.

Aldo’s reign came to an abrupt end in December 2015 at UFC 194 when he was KO’d by Conor McGregor in 13 seconds. Aldo defeated Edgar at UFC 200 to become the interim featherweight champion before being promoted again to the undisputed featherweight king in late November 2016, not long after McGregor won the UFC lightweight title. However, Aldo lost the title again, this time to Max Holloway, who lost at UFC 212 and the subsequent UFC 218 rematch.

Aldo bounced back with two Performance of the Night-worthy wins over Jeremy Stephens and Renato Moicano before losing to current featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 237.

Aldo then opted for the bantamweight division. His division debut would not be a successful one, as he would controversially lose a decision to Marlon Moraes, but he would still get a chance to fight at UFC 251 for the then-vacant UFC Bantamweight Championship. He would be forcibly finished off by Petr Yan, however.

Aldo previously picked up three straight wins over Marlon Vera, Pedro Munhoz and Rob Font a loss to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 278 Last month.

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