José Aldo, a two-time UFC featherweight champion who made a record seven title defenses, retired following a brutal loss to Aiemann Zahabi at UFC 315 on Saturday night in Montreal.
It was the second retirement for the 38-year-old from Brazil, who walked away in 2022 to pursue professional boxing and was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame the following year. By 2024, however, he was back in the cage, where he won his first fight but dropped his next two.
“I don’t think I have it in me anymore,” Aldo said through an interpreter after dropping a unanimous decision. “This was a very tough week that I felt that I didn’t have it in me.”
Aldo was referring to a difficult weight cut in which he was unable to get even close to the bantamweight limit of 136 pounds. The UFC moved the fight to the 145-pound featherweight division.
Aldo appeared energized at the start, but by the end of the fight he was on his back, bloodied and taking a battering from Zahabi’s elbows.
“I don’t want to go into war all the time and go through all this,” Aldo said. “I just don’t have it in my heart anymore. I think this is the last time you’re going to see me. I can’t do this anymore.”
Aldo became featherweight champion in the UFC’s sister promotion, the WEC, in 2009, and when that promotion and its roster were absorbed by the UFC the following year, he was named champion.
He remained champ until 2015, when Conor McGregor ended his 18-fight winning streak. Aldo won an interim title the following year, and after McGregor was stripped for not defending his belt, Aldo again was named champion. In 2017, he lost the title to Max Holloway.
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