Jose Aldo wasn’t the tallest fighter in his weight class. Yet Junior is the most dominant featherweight champion in the history of the UFC.
The King of Rio reigned for 1,848 days as 145-pound champion before he was finally dethroned by Conor McGregor at UFC 194 in 2015. During his term as champion, he made a record seven straight successful title defences. Upon his retirement, he was considered the GOAT of MMA’s featherweight division and one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time. Aldo was inducted into the UFC’s Hall of Fame last year.
Two years after his retirement, Aldo will return to the Octagon to fulfil his contractual obligation When he left his gloves in the centre of the Octagon after UFC 278, Junior still had one fight left in his UFC contract. The UFC allowed him to compete in boxing while away from MMA. But now Aldo is ready to return one final time to the Octagon and complete his contract.
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The 37-year-old Aldo stands 5″7′ tall and is slightly shorter than the average featherweight height of 5-8. Despite that, Aldo was a machine who ran through one opponent after another. From his first MMA loss at Jungle Fight to the time he lost his featherweight title to McGregor, Aldo went undefeated for a decade and won 18 consecutive bouts.
The tallest fighter that Aldo has fought in the UFC was Max Holloway who beat him in consecutive bouts. The Blessed Express stands 5″11′ tall. McGregor was also a taller opponent for Aldo as The Notorious strands 5-9 tall. But not all of Aldo’s losses came at the hands of taller opponents. Alexander Volkanovski, Marlon Moraes, and Merab Dvalishvili were all listed at 5-6 tall when they defeated Aldo.