Jose Aldo

New fans to MMA and the UFC might not know the real Jose Aldo.

The former champion is attempting to show them once again, though. 

Aldo returns to action this Saturday in the main event of UFC on ESPN against Rob Font. The five-round bantamweight affair takes place from Las Vegas and the UFC Apex. 

The 35-year-old Aldo was once the UFC featherweight champion, holding the title from its inception in 2010 into 2015.

During that five-year window, Aldo scored wins over Kenny Florian, Chad Mendes, Frankie Edgar, Chan Sung Jung and Ricardo Lamas. 

And most of those were pretty one-sided affairs. 

The highlights included a first round knockout of Mendes, a fourth round finish of “The Korean Zombie” and a convincing decision of Edgar. 

Prior to his run as UFC champion, Aldo ruled the WEC. The now-defunct promotion was absorbed by the UFC with the Brazilian as champion. 

He won that title in 2009 over Mike Brown and earned a defense vs. Urijah Faber. 

Before running into Conor McGregor, Aldo’s lone loss in 26 fights came at lightweight in 2005 in Brazil. 

It has been an interesting mix of results since the McGregor fight. The build to that bout was incredible, and likely made Aldo the known star he is today despite the loss. 

He rebounded to win the interim UFC featherweight title a year later but was unable to top Max Holloway in either of their 2017 bouts. 

After starting his career 25-1, Aldo is just 5-6 since. He did make a run at the bantamweight belt against Petr Yan in 2020, falling in the fifth round. 

Back-to-back decision wins over Marlon Vera and Pedro Munhoz, though, have rekindled the fire and drive for Aldo. 

Now, he gets Font, who is on a four-fight win streak. Font has scored victories over former UFC champion Cody Garbrandt and current Bellator titleholder Sergio Pettis during his run.

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