Jose Aldo has resigned from MMA and was released under a UFC contract

Jose Aldo has ended his legendary career.

MMA Fighting’s Guilherme Cruz confirmed with sources with knowledge of the news that the two-time UFC featherweight champion and current bantamweight contender has retired from MMA competition, putting a bow on an 18-year career that saw him earn a reputation as one of the greatest fighters in combat sports history. Combat first reported the news.

Aldo (31-8) is widely regarded as the greatest featherweight fighter of all time as well as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters to ever step into the cage. He won 25 of his first 26 pro bouts, with numerous highlight-reel knockouts and dominant decisions among those victories.

MMA Fighting confirmed that Aldo was released from UFC with only one fight remaining. This means that he can pursue a much-discussed move into boxing, or any other combat sport opportunities.

The news is less than one month following Aldo’s last fight. It was a unanimous loss to Merab Davalishvili at UFC 278, which snapped his three-fight winning streak. He retires as the No. 6 bantamweight in MMA Fighting’s Global Rankings.

Debuting as a professional in August 2004, Aldo went 10-1 to begin his career before signing with the World Extreme Cagefighting promotion in 2008. Aldo’s winning ways continued as he defeated his next five opponents by knockout before challenging Mike Brown for a featherweight title at WEC 44. Aldo scored a second-round TKO of Brown to claim his first championship at the age of 23.

Aldo successfully defended that title twice before making the move to the UFC as part of a company merger in 2010, where he was immediately promoted to the status of inaugural UFC featherweight champion. He defended the title successfully seven times, still a UFC record. Conor McGregor defeated him at UFC 194. Later, he won an interim title that was promoted to undisputed status at UFC 200..

Aldo was promoted to the bantamweight section in 2019, after a close-fought split defeat to Marlon Morais. The fifth round TKO defeat to Petr Yan at UFC was Aldo’s final. However, he rebounded with wins against top-ranked fighters Pedro Munhoz and Rob Font.

Aldo has also won notable victories over many of the greatest 145 competitors, such as Frankie Edgar and Urijah Faber.