Jose Aldo says enough – again.
UFC legend and former featherweight champion announced his retirement following unanimous loss of decision in Aiemann Zahabi at UFC 315 on Saturday in Montreal.
Aldo, 38, who previously retired after losing against Merab Dvalishvili in 2022 before returning to the octagon a year and a half later, said in an emotional interview after the fight that his career was over.
“I don’t think I have it in me anymore,” said Aldo, inducted at the UFC renown temple in 2023, through an interpreter after loss. “It was a very difficult week that I felt that I didn’t have it in me.”
The fight was closely disputed, with Aldo with lightning of his old shine, although this is not enough because he lost 29-28 on the three dashboards.
In the third round, Aldo managed to win an energetic right hand and a signature knee which momentarily stunned Zahabi.
However, Zahabi recovered and capitalized on the apparent teenage fatigue, responding by a series of strikes which led to a victory in unanimous.
The decision, although unanimous, encountered controversy.
Several current and ancient stars of the UFC reacted to the dashboards, suggesting that Aldo did not get a good shock.
UFC; The light renato Moicano competitor called him “perhaps one of the worst sports decisions”, as well as a “King F flight”.
Angela Hill, the UFC straw weights, questioned “How?!” on X.
The former UFC heavyweight champion, Quinton, “crawling” Jackson, also described him as “bad call”.
Aldo revealed after the fight he had entered the match with several injuries and continued with the fight despite his opinion to withdraw.
“This fight was difficult,” said Aldo. “I had a muscle tear on my arm, I had something on my stomach that I forgot the name there, (from) cutting a lot. I had some problems. A viral infection, a bunch of things. ”
In the end, he chose to compete because, as he said: “I knew it could be my last fight.”
“I don’t want to go into war all the time and go through it all,” added Aldo. “I don’t have it in my heart anymore. … I think it’s the last time you’re going to see me. I can’t do that anymore. ”
With a professional record of 32 victories and 10 defeats, Aldo leaves a legacy as one of the best in MMA.
The temple of fame, which recorded 17 of its victories by KO, was the first featherweight champion in promotion after initially won the WEC title before the company was absorbed by the UFC in 2010.
Aldo was 2009-15 champion and defended the UFC title successfully seven times – still a record – before being famous by Conor McGregor 13 seconds in their December 2015 fight.
