Brazilian MMA superstar Jose Aldo went unbeaten for a decade during the peak of his career. Because of that, Junior owns one of the most impressive records in the UFC.
Junior dominated the featherweight scene from its inception until 2015. Aldo’s title reign of 1,848 days is unmatched in the 145-pound weight class just as his seven successive and successful title defences are a record in the featherweight division.
The 37-year-old was the last WEC featherweight champion before the organization merged with the UFC in 2011. As such, Aldo was promoted as the inaugural UFC featherweight champion and he held on to the title until December 2015 when he was infamously knocked out in seven seconds by Conor McGregor at UFC 194.
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Aldo began his mixed martial arts career as a teenager. After he won his first seven bouts as a featherweight, he moved up to lightweight but suffered his first defeat at Jungle Fight 5 where he was submitted by Luciano Acevedo. He returned to featherweight after that setback and did not lose a fight for a decade, winning 18 fights in a row. During that span, he successfully defended the UFC featherweight title seven times before finally losing to McGregor in 2015.
McGregor later vacated the featherweight title and Aldo won it back by defeating Frankie Edgar at UFC 200. However, Aldo lost the belt to Max Holloway in his first title defence at UFC 212 and lost to Holloway again in an immediate rematch at UFC 218.
Including the loss to McGregor, Aldo went 6-7 in 13 bouts. He retired after he was convincingly beaten by Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 278 two years ago. Overall, Jose has a record of 31-8 with 17 knockouts and one submission victory. Four of his losses were by knockout and only one was a submission defeat.
Aldo’s 11 title fights in the featherweight division are the most by any UFC fighter. His seven consecutive title defenses are the most in the history of the division and his 8 straight wins at the WEC promotion were the longest in the history of the promotion.
At UFC 301, Aldo will return to the Octagon for the first time in two years. He is scheduled to fight No.13 bantamweight Jonathan Martinez in the co-main event of the 4 May 2024 show which will be held at the Farmassi Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.