“Heck of a ride” Jose Aldo leaves an emotional MMA community in nostalgia with SHOCKING news of retirement

“Heck of a ride” Jose Aldo leaves an emotional MMA community in nostalgia with SHOCKING news of retirement

Jose Aldo

The King of Rio, Jose Aldo has announced retirement at the age of 36, after a glorious career in MMA, including WEC and the UFC.

A bonafide Brazilian starlet, Jose Aldo is revered among MMA fans as one of the great 145-pounders to ever walk, and unanimously, as one of the best combat sport talents from Brazil, we have ever seen.

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Naturally, tons of thousands of tributes filled Twitter, with fans, irrespective of them being new to the sport or old flocking to social media to express their love for the now retired Featherweight.

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Some of the honourable mentions (amongst the tributes) are “Facts. Thank Jose Aldo! From WEC beating mike brown to ufc most dominant champs. Ever. You showed great spirit and technique. Thank you Jose, what a ride!”, “He is the greatest featherweight not one of.”, “Jose Aldo never missed weight in his career, won the most title fights in FW history. Has had the most Title Fights in FW History, never once got in trouble outside or inside fighting. He stayed loyal to his team and never switched up, straight from the bottom to the ?. Legend.”

“Aldo is the GOAT.”, “Jose Aldo is the most accomplished and best fighter MMA has ever seen and nobody embodies pride and respect better than him. If he’s done, it’s for the best because he sure as hell has nothing left to prove.”, read a few more tweets, admiring his genius within the octagon.

Related- Merab Dvalishvili reveals a huge secret regarding Jose Aldo’s future in the UFC

Highlighting Aldo capturing the collective imaginations of MMA fans in Brazil, a fan wrote “When Jose Aldo ran out of the octagon and into the crowd in Brazil, one of the greatest moments I have ever seen in sports.” Some fans, however, were perplexed over the fighter’s decision to retire just before the UFC was bound to return to Brazil next year. One said, “José Aldo VS Dominick Cruz at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at UFC 283 in early 2023 would’ve been the perfect retirement fight, but as long as he’s happy then that’s all that matters. Congratulations on an amazing career, The King of Rio!“

Before retiring, Jose Aldo was 3-2 in his last 5 fights

Jose Aldo (R) takes on Alexander Volkanovski (R)
Jose Aldo (R) takes on Alexander Volkanovski (R)

In what was slightly anticipated, Jose Aldo’s retirement still took the MMA world by storm. The reason for this is that most fighters decide to hang up their gloves once they either see the fire in themselves extinguish or their skill level drop to below that of the upcoming contenders.

In Jose Aldo’s case, neither can be said to be the case, as, in his last five fights, he has shown that he can hang with the very cream of the bantamweight crop. Giving a brief recap of his last five fights – Aldo defeated Marlon Vera, and lost to Petr Yan in 2020; then in 2021, he beat both Pedro Munhoz and Rob Font; and this year, he lost to Merab Dvalishvili in August.

Also Read- WATCH: A Young Jose Aldo’s heartwarming footage of buying his first custom-made suit

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For a man touching 37, the people on his resume of late have all been fighters who have, or can (in the future), challenge for the belt. However, the most probable explanation for hanging up his gloves is the desire within him to mount another title dying down. The King of Rio is the only 2-time featherweight champion, and despite having a blot on his resume (that of Conor McGregor humiliatingly knocking him out), he is largely untouched as one of, if not the greatest featherweight ever.

Also Read- “Khabib was right all along” – Khabib Nurmagomedov’s comments on Jose Aldo spark a savage debate among fans following the Brazilian’s retirement