The competitor of the UFC Bantamweight, Aiemann Zahabi, won the greatest victory in his career by beating the legendary Jose Aldo with a unanimous decision at the UFC 315 in Montreal on Saturday.
What third round it was.
Little believed that Zahabi would return to his feet after a crushing teenage knee has almost ended the battle. But while Aldo hunted a finish in a burst, Zahabi overturned the script – reducing the Brazilian to the canvas and releasing brutal elbows on the front which goes up in his favor.
The two fighters worked on smoke by the last horn, leaving the result to the dashboard of the judges – where Zahabi came out victorious, winning a victory of 29-28 via a unanimous decision.
After the fight and a 14 -year -old UFC career, as well as 21 years in professional MMA, Aldo, 38, left his gloves at the Center of the Ring, announcing his retirement.
“I no longer have it in my heart. I think it is the last time you will see me,” he said after the devastating loss.
The fight was originally to be disputed in Bantamweight, but was transferred to feather weights at the last minute when it was apparent that Aldo would not make the weight of 136 pounds.
Zahabi, who is the younger brother of the longtime head coach of Tristar Gym Firas Zahabi, improves his record at 13-2. He won five consecutive fights entering the event on Saturday, including a victory in unanimous against Pedro Munhoz in November.
Aldo, a former longtime featherweight champion who has been inducted at the UFC renown temple as part of the 2023 class, fell to 32-10. He had already retired in 2022 before returning to the Octagon in May 2024, and he has now had 1-2 since his resumption of his career.
Aldo left a defeat against Mario Bautista by shared decision at the UFC 304 in October. He had defended the 10 attempts to withdraw from Bautista in this fight and did not seem surpassing, showing that he can always compete with promising suitors. However, he did not have enough to exceed Zahabi.
Aldo entered Saturday classified n ° 11 in the Coqs weight division, while Zahabi was classified n ° 15. There was no bad blood between them leading to their fight, because the two simply hoped to get closer to a title shot.
While Aldo is the biggest name of the Curriculum Vitae in Zahabi, a victory over a former champion after his peak is probably not enough to make the jump of the title.
However, at 37, the clock turns so that the Canadian climbed the rooster weight division, so he can be expected to seek another renowned fight after Saturday’s victory.
