The goal for Jose Aldo when he stepped into the cage at UFC 278 this last Saturday couldn’t have been clearer. The former featherweight champion and bantamweight title contender has had only one thing in mind over his recent three-fight unbeaten streak: get back to UFC gold.
“When we first started, I told Dede (Pederneiras, Aldo’s coach) that at 35 I’d be champion and I’d retire,” Aldo said in an interview back in July. “That is why I say that I’m very close to retiring, though I used to say I’d retire as a champion.”
With his 36th birthday less than a month away now, and his immediate title hopes seemingly scuppered in the wake of a unanimous decision loss to Merab Dvalishvili, it just may be that fans have seen the Brazilian MMA legend in the Octagon for the last time.