Jose Aldo’s Losses: MMA Record, Legendary Winning Streaks, and Defeats of UFC Legend

The former UFC featherweight champion, Jose Aldo, is one of the best fighters who’s ever represented UFC. The Brazilian joined the promotion more than a decade ago and his name is synonymous with the list of the longest-reigning UFC champions of all time. However, Aldo’s UFC career wasn’t smooth as always, since he also suffered quite a few setbacks in the form of losses.

While he has so far competed in 31 professional matches, 27 of those have come for the UFC/WEC. As is the case with many outstanding fighters, along with many wins, he has also incurred few losses inside the octagon. Let’s have a look at those losses and the fighters involved in them.

Jose Aldo vs Conor McGregor – the fight that shocked the world

Aldo enjoyed a lengthy featherweight title reign. He was the first-ever UFC featherweight champion as he received the belt at UFC 123 back in 2010. He carried the title on his shoulders for 5 years before dropping it to Conor McGregor at UFC 194 in December 2015. The match had an intense build-up as McGregor dominated him with his trash-talk antics. It was clear from Aldo’s face that he was tensed before the fight began.

In a battle involving Irishman vs Brazilian, brash vs stoic, interim champ vs undisputed champ, it was the man from Dublin that got the win. The fight even shattered PPV records as Conor McGregor took just 13 seconds to seal the deal. It was bizarre to see a man who reigned supreme for 5 years getting beaten in 13 seconds. But there were more losses to come, especially when he fought BMF champion Max Holloway.

Back-to-back defeats against Max Holloway

The UFC stripped Conor McGregor of the featherweight championship in 2016 as he never defended the title. As a result, the man he defeated to win the strap, Jose Aldo, was promoted to the featherweight champion status. At that time, Max Holloway, now the BMF champion, was also the interim title holder in the 145-pound division. They both battled it out to unify both belts in the main event of UFC 212. It was a pressure game for Holloway, since he was in enemy territory in Brazil.

Jose Aldo took the first round. He landed crisp attacks when he had the chance over a patient, Max Holloway. The latter got in trouble twice but scampered to safety both times. Holloway slowly started getting control in the second round. Aldo, also known for some of the nastiest kicks in the game, hardly threw any. But ‘Blessed’ turned up the pace in round two, and a hematoma swelled on the left side of Aldo’s head. In the third, it was all cruise control mode for the Hawaiian. He tore Aldo apart, dropped him to the canvas, and, like a predator, went for the kill. The referee had seen enough, and he waved the fight off.

When the duo met for a second time, history repeated itself as Jose Aldo failed to secure a win once again. ‘Junior’ came into the title scene after replacing injured Frankie Edgar at UFC 218. The Brazilian had an awful weight cut heading into the fight. However, that did not stop him from having a solid start in the fight, though. Interestingly, he added his signature leg kicks, which went missing in his last fight.

The two-time former champ also landed solid shots in the second round and kept Max Holloway on the back foot. But just like in UFC 212, Holloway was just getting started and Aldo started fading. Max Holloway went rogue in round three. He started pummeling Aldo and, just like at UFC 212, the referee saw no other alternative and raised Holloway’s hand in the end for a TKO win.

Alexander Volkanovski triumphs over Jose Aldo

After losing title fights to Max Holloway, Jose Aldo made a strong comeback, winning two successive fights. But then a certain man from Australia named Alexander Volkanovski stopped his victory march this time. Aldo fought ‘The Great’ at UFC 237 in Rio de Janeiro, which turned out to be a bad outing for ‘Junior’.

Jose Aldo started the fight by claiming the center of the cage. Alexander Volkanovski approached the first round with a lot of feints and low kicks. But the Brazilian showed vehement defense early on. However, Volkanovski applied such pressure over the former featherweight champ that there was no doubt in the judges’ minds who won the round.

The Great’s pressure game continued in round 2 as well. He was causing trouble to Jose Aldo from the get-go. Alexander Volkanovski smothered him against the fence and put him down with knees and punches. The third round began the same way. Volkanovski did everything to save and build his lead by keeping Aldo against the fence. In the end, it was a tactical masterpiece from the Australian as he picked up an easy, unanimous decision win over the Brazilian.

All other losses of Jose Aldo

In late 2019, Aldo moved to bantamweight after cutting his teeth in featherweight for years. He fought Marlon Moraes in his debut match for the division at UFC 245. In Round 1, both fighters landed significant shots and had pleasant moments. The former featherweight champ caused more damage to Moraes, but the latter could take down Aldo in the dying seconds of the round.

Round 2 started with Aldo pressing Moraes. He had a good amount of success on the feet, landing some big shots on the way. In round 3, Moraes found success as he landed some power shots that marked up Aldo’s face. In the end, Moraes took the fight by a split decision amidst the boos from the live crowd.

Following the departure of Olympian and two-division champion, Henry Cejudo, Jose Aldo fought rising Russian fighter Petr Yan for the vacant bantamweight title at UFC 251. Many termed it controversial as Aldo got the title shot after successive losses. The Brazilian started strongly as he connected his trademark outside leg kicks. This not only pushed Yan on the back foot, but he had to shift to a southpaw stance to negate the kicks. However, the tables were soon turned as Yan scored a fifth-round TKO of Aldo. ‘Junior’s final loss came in his last fight in 2022 against surging 135-er, Merab Dvalishvili, where he registered a unanimous decision defeat.

The losses are behind now and Jose Aldo can only control what happens in the future. He will be fighting against Jonathan Martinez in UFC 301 and it will be interesting to see if he can still prove to be a force to be reckoned with at 37 years of age.