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Jose Aldo is done with MMA. The 36-year-old was granted his release from his UFC contract with his coach, Andres Pederneiras, expecting it to mark the end of his legendary career.
UFC seemed to confirm that Aldo was retiring from MMA with a tweet on Sunday afternoon. ESPN and Brazilian outlet Combate were first to report the news. Aldo has yet to release a statement on the matter, though he posted a picture of he and his wife celebrating the birth of their child on social media.
Aldo was removed from the fighter rankings on Sunday, which indicates he is no longer on the active roster.
The “King of Rio” had one of the best runs in all of MMA when he burst on the scene with WEC in 2008. He won 15 straight fights, including a run as featherweight champion that carried over into UFC when WEC was absorbed into the promotion. That run featured wins over Cub Swanson, Mike Brown, Urijah Faber, Mark Hominick, Kenny Florian, Chad Mendes (twice), Frankie Edgar and the “Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung.
After a shocking 13-second knockout loss to Conor McGregor in 2015, Aldo bounced back to win the interim featherweight crown with a second win over Edgar. A pair of TKO losses to Max Holloway followed.
Aldo decided to make a surprising move down to bantamweight in 2019, where he struggled initially but managed to win three straight over Marlon Vera, Pedro Munhoz and Rob Font.
His final fight came in August where he lost a decision to Merab Dvalishvili.