Jose Aldo is gearing up to retire from mixed martial arts (MMA). Aldo is one of the most legendary mixed martial artists the sport has ever seen. His lengthy undefeated streak lasted for over a decade before being stopped by Conor McGregor in 2015. Now, after suffering back-to-back TKO defeats to Max Holloway, Aldo will retire after his current UFC deal expires.
The Brazilian has admitted that going after UFC gold is no longer a goal for himself. Should he recapture a title, his UFC deal would basically renew itself, which is something he’d like to avoid. With that being said, Aldo wants to put on the best fights possible in front of his native Brazilian crowd before walking away. But the prospect of retiring without being a UFC champion saddens Aldo (via MMA Junkie):
“I get very sad about that, you know,” Aldo said. “I dreamed of retiring as a champion, if you see my previous interviews, I always talked about that, that I wanted to go out as a champion and enjoy life a bit.
“But it’s not what’s been happening. I think it’s very hard for them to match me up against Max for a third time, so this frustrates my plans a little, my desire of being champion and leaving as champion. But that’s part of it.
“Now we don’t have this possibility, we’ll see what happens in the future. But it’s one step at a time. The first step is to beat Renato and we’ll see what happens as the year goes by.”
The first of Aldo’s final fights on his UFC deal goes down tomorrow (Sat. February 2, 2019). He’ll face Renato Moicano in the co-main event of UFC on ESPN+ 2 from the Centro de Formação Olímpica do Nordeste in Fortaleza, Brazil.
What do you think about Aldo’s comments regarding not retiring as a UFC champion?
