Wow, so here’s the thing with Jose Aldo — he’s called it quits again after the Zahabi fight at UFC 315. And honestly, he just said, “I just don’t have it in my heart anymore.” Which, like, wow, feels like such a heavy statement. Ugh, it sorta hit me in the feels, y’know? Oh, and yeah, he spilled the beans to UFC Brazil afterward, saying his body was basically falling apart before he even stepped in the ring.
He sort of detailed all these wild injuries he had. Something about a muscle tear in the arm, and then he forgot the name of something wrong with his belly. From kicking too much, I guess? Plus, there was this crazy virus. I mean, the guy sounded like a walking medical dictionary gone wrong. But, nah, he wasn’t about to back out of what he thought might be his last bout — docs were like, “Yo, don’t fight,” but Aldo? He had other ideas.
A little backtracking here, but before this Zahabi thing, Aldo had faced off with Mario Bautista and didn’t come out on top — kinda a bummer there. He faced Zahabi, and it went to a decision that everyone and their uncle seemed to think was controversial. Originally, this fight was gonna be at 135 pounds, but stuff happened, and it ended up at featherweight because cutting weight wasn’t happening for him.
Oh, and can we just talk about his insane career? He’s hanging up the gloves with a 32-10 record. Like seriously, dude was 8-0 in WEC and had a pretty loaded 14-9 in the UFC. Absolute legend status.
Here’s a neat nugget. He wanted to wrap it all up in Canada. Crazy, right? Started there, wanted to end it right back where everything kicked off. Talks about fighting Mark Hominick back then like this epic, full-circle moment. Could’ve finished things off in Brazil or wherever, but no, Canada felt like the spot for him.
And he’s been pondering all this retirement jazz for a hot minute. Chatted with his coach ‘Dede’ and his wife Viviane about jumping into a new chapter or whatever. He’s all about that dad life now. Says he wants to do the school runs, and honestly, it’s just relatable stuff. Wanting to be home, living the simple life after all the chaos of fighting.
Not forgetting this wasn’t even his first goodbye. Aldo stepped away before after that match with Merab Dvalishvili in ‘22. Oh, he dabbled in boxing too, and wasn’t half bad! But yeah, back to MMA in ‘24, and now, well, here we are. He’s won like one out of three since then. Life of a fighter, I guess?
Aldo, man. What a ride.
