Two-time former UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo will bid to become a two-weight UFC champ when steps into the octagon on “Fight Island” to challenge for the vacant bantamweight title.
Aldo (28-6 MMA, 10-5 UFC) will take on Russian contender and former ACB bantamweight champion Petr Yan (14-1 MMA, 6-0 UFC) on the main card of UFC 251, which takes place Saturday at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.
The fight offers a battle between one of the most dominant champions in UFC history and a rising star of Russian MMA, who is looking to join fellow countryman Khabib Nurmagomedov and bring a second UFC championship belt back to his homeland. Ahead of the bantamweight title clash, we take a look at five fights that have helped define Aldo’s stellar career to date.
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Cub Swanson at WEC 41 – June 7, 2009
Aldo had gone 4-0 in WEC, including a pair of first-round finishes, when he took on Swanson in a featherweight title eliminator in Sacramento, Calif. Another first-round finish swiftly followed, as Aldo produced a stunning flying knee to flatten Swanson in the very first exchange of the fight.
A couple of ground strikes put the seal on an eight-second knockout win that put the rest of the featherweight world on notice and booked Aldo into a hotly-anticipated title clash with Mike Brown.
Next up: A champion’s performance
Urijah Faber at WEC 44 – April 24, 2010
Aldo captured the WEC featherweight strap with a second-round finish of Brown to set up a clash with the WEC’s biggest star, former featherweight champion Urijah Faber.
“The California Kid” was expected to push Aldo to the limit, but the Brazilian had Faber’s number throughout the five-round fight, utilizing a constant barrage of leg kicks to stop Faber’s wrestling at source during a punishing encounter.
Aldo landed an incredible 32 leg kicks throughout the fight, sending Faber to the canvas on multiple occasions with his powerful leg strikes. Those kicks laid the foundation for a dominant performance, and Aldo earned scores of 50-45, 49-46, 49-45 to register the first successful defense of his WEC title.
Next up: Debuting on the biggest of stages
Mark Hominick at UFC 129 – April 30, 2011
After the WEC merged with the UFC in October 2010, Aldo was crowned the UFC’s inaugural featherweight champion, and the Brazilian made his first title defense on one of the biggest nights in UFC history.
UFC 129 saw 55,724 fans pack the Rogers Centre in Toronto in what, at the time, was the biggest crowd in UFC history. If Aldo had any big-stage jitters, he didn’t let them show as he engaged in an entertaining back-and-forth war with Canadian contender Mark Hominick that earned “Fight of the Night” honors.
Aldo wasn’t at his very best during the fight – he was on antibiotics in the week leading up to fight week in Canada – but on his UFC debut, he stepped up, fought at less than 100 percent and turned back the challenge of Hominick, whose gutsy performance in defeat won plenty of plaudits.
The scores of 48-45, 48-46 and 49-46 showed that, although Hominick was competitive, Aldo had enough in reserve to make sure he walked away from his first UFC title defense with his belt intact
Next up: A crushing defeat
Conor McGregor at UFC 194 – Dec. 12, 2015
Following his maiden UFC win, Aldo went on a remarkable run, reeling off six more title defenses, including a brilliant rematch with arguably his toughest rival to that point, Chad Mendes.
But despite his incredible title run, the fight that brought the most attention to Aldo’s stellar career ultimately proved to be the one that ended his title reign, as Conor McGregor finished the Brazilian with a one-punch knockout at UFC 194.
The build-up to the fight had been tetchy, as Aldo became increasingly irked by McGregor’s constant verbal jabs and jibes while the pair embarked on a promotional world tour. By the time the Brazilian found himself standing across the octagon from the ebullient Irishman, he was wound up and desperate to make McGregor pay.
But McGregor turned Aldo’s aggression to his own advantage when he brilliantly countered Aldo’s attempted leaping left hook with a rapid-fire left cross that knocked out the Brazilian in the blink of an eye.
It was one of the most stunning knockouts in UFC history, and McGregor was catapulted to superstardom, while Aldo was left crushed after seeing his 10-year unbeaten run ended in just 13 seconds.
Next up: Bouncing back
Frankie Edgar at UFC 200 – July 9, 2016
The manner of Aldo’s defeat to McGregor could have finished the careers of lesser men, but the Brazilian remarkably bounced back from his devastating defeat and recaptured UFC gold in his next fight, just seven months later.
Aldo returned to action in Las Vegas at UFC 200 and defeated former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar with a masterclass of MMA striking, outpointing “The Answer” and winning the interim UFC featherweight title.
That belt was later upgraded to the undisputed version after McGregor was stripped of the belt for failing to defend it. It meant Aldo was back on top of the 145-pound division once again.
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Since that win, Aldo has struggled for form, having lost twice to Max Holloway, and later to Alexander Volkanovski. It prompted him to make the move down to bantamweight, where he lost a split decision to Marlon Moraes at UFC 245.
However, UFC president Dana White felt the judges had scored it wrong and has since treated Aldo as if he had won that matchup. It’s led to the Brazilian being given a shot at the vacant bantamweight title against Yan on Saturday at UFC 251, where he will attempt to become one of a select few athletes to earn a UFC title in two weight classes.
