On this day in 2005, Jose Aldo suffered a loss before bouncing back with one of the greatest runs in the history of the sport.
Aldo announced his second UFC retirement earlier this year, with the ‘King of Rio’ receiving one last moment in front of his adoring home fans.
The former featherweight champion boasts one of the most remarkable careers that the sport has ever seen.
While Aldo’s career may have ended with a loss to Aiemann Zahabi in May, the Brazilian icon had a knack for not letting losses define his career.
In fact, he suffered defeat for the first time in just his eighth pro fight, before putting together a win streak that arguably made him the greatest featherweight of all time.
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Luciano Azevedo said you could only beat Jose Aldo with grapplingJose Aldo’s incredible run in the WEC and reign as the UFC’s inaugural featherweight champion were a part of a ten-year stretch where he went undefeated.
The 18 consecutive wins that made him one of the pound-for-pound best fighters in the history of the sport was bookended by losses.
On November 26 in 2005, Aldo suffered his first pro defeat when he was submitted by Luciano Azevedo in the second round of their bout at Jungle Fight 5.
It wouldn’t be until December of 2015 that the Brazilian would taste defeat again, having been stopped by Conor McGregor in 13 seconds at UFC 194.
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Just like McGregor comforted Aldo in the immediate aftermath of their clash, Azevedo showed respect towards his former opponent in the years after they met in the cage.
In a 2012 interview with Sherdog, Azevedo said this when previewing the featherweight champion’s first meeting with Chad Mendes at UFC 142.
“When we fought, he was as good and as aggressive as he is today,” the Brazilian reflected. “I traded some strikes with Aldo and managed to win in the area that, to me, is his weakness: the ground. I think if someone wants to beat Aldo, they’re going to have to try and do it on the ground because he’s too good in the stand-up.”
While he did suffer four knockout losses in his career, Aldo wasn’t submitted in his 42-fight career following his loss to Azevedo in 2005.
THROWBACKS: Why Jose Aldo turned down a Conor McGregor rematch despite calling his 13-second KO ‘lucky’What happened to Luciano Azevedo after he beat Jose Aldo?Luciano Azevedo never made it to the UFC and fought mostly on small regional promotions, aside from one bout in Pride back in 2006.
However, the Brazilian did face off with several opponents, in addition to Jose Aldo, whom also have Octagon experience.
Just two fights after beating Aldo, he defeated current UFC commentator Din Thomas.
Azevedo also shared the cage with the only man to beat Islam Makhachev, Adriano Martins, before ending his 27-fight pro career with one last bout in 2014.
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