Jose “Junior” Aldo (28-7 MMA, 10-6 UFC)
Bantamweight (135lbs): 0-2 (UFC)
Featherweight (145lbs): 10-4 (UFC), Former Multiple-time UFC Featherweight Champion
Jose Aldo is one of the best featherweights of all time, if not the best featherweight of all time, though he stands at 5’7″ with a 71.5″ reach. Aldo reigned over the UFC’s featherweight division from its inception in 2010 with the merging of the UFC and the WEC.
Jose retained the belt in the UFC up until July of 2015. Aldo won the UFC interim featherweight championship just a year later in 2016 and after Conor McGregor never defended the featherweight belt he was stripped and Aldo returned to being the UFC Champion at 145lbs.
After a pair of losses to Max Holloway, the featherweight belt was permanently ripped from Jose Aldo’s grasp. And though Jose racked up another two impressive finish wins over Jeremy Stephens and Renato Moicano, he came up short once again in a bout to determine a title challenger against Alexander Volkanovski.
Aldo shocked the MMA world with his announcement of his move down to the bantamweight division. Aldo might not have looked exactly healthy in the lead up to the bout, but he successfully made the weight nonetheless for his fight against Marlon Moraes in Decmber of 2019. Though Aldo lost a split decision in the eyes of the judges, the fans and UFC President Dana White thought that he had won.
Aldo was subsequently booked for a title shot for the vacant UFC bantamweight title against Petr Yan in July of 2020. Jose successfully made championship weight the day prior to the bout without incident. However, Aldo was dominated and finished midway thru the fifth round by Yan in their championship bout the following day. Now, Jose is fighting streaking fighter Marlon Vera, in a bout that he needs to win in order to stay in the title conversation. Aldo, despite his long and illustrious career, is somehow only 34 years old, and even though he has been okay thus far on his stint at bantamweight will remain a fighter to watch on the scales.
