Jose Aldo, Wife Accused Of Taking Handouts From Brazilian Government

A former UFC titleholder and his wife are reportedly involved in a Brazilian government scandal.

Brazilian news outlet Extra has reported that former two-time UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo Junior and his spouse Vivianne Pereira Oliveira were recipients of emergency aid during the pandemic.

According to the Portal da Transparencia, Brazil's finance tracking portal, Oliveira received R$600 or about US$120 a month between May and October of 2020, and then three more payouts of R$300 between November and December of 2020.

The problem is, Oliveira reportedly isn't registered with the CadUnico, making her ineligible to be given emergency funds, which are usually designated to the poorest families in the country.

To compound matters even more, former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro—who held office from 2019 to 2022—fled the country upon advice from his lawyers and is reportedly being hosted by Aldo and Oliveira at their mansion in Orlando, Florida.

According to BloodyElbow.com, Oliveira took to Instagram stories to refute allegations of her accepting emergency aid.

"Just because we put Bolsonaro in our house, the leftists are now snooping on our life. I have never received or registered for emergency help," she wrote.

Per reports from Forum, the mansion was bought for US$745,000, with the transaction taking place during the months when Oliveira was listed to have been receiving the emergency deposits.

An advocate of far-right policies, Bolsonaro's reign as Brazil's commander-in-chief ended when he was defeated in a runoff presidential election by former president Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva on October 30, 2022.

Aldo, who has been a staunch supporter of Bolsonaro ever since the 2018 Brazilian presidential elections, has also found himself in a bit of controversy.

As reported by Forum Aldo was set to receive 200,000 reais or about US$40,000 back in October 2022, which was supposed to be used by the JAJ Institute as funding to organize a Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournament that has yet to take place.

JAJ Institute is owned by Aldo.

This is obviously a bad look for the mixed martial arts (MMA) legend, who is beloved by fans across the globe.

The 36-year-old burst onto the MMA scene in the late 2000s when he began picking up steam as an exciting knockout artist under the WEC banner.

In 2009, Aldo stunned the world by knocking out Mike Brown to capture the WEC featherweight championship.

After two title defenses, Aldo would be named the UFC's inaugural featherweight champion after the company had bought out WEC.

Aldo successfully defended the UFC title seven times against the likes of Mark Hominick, Kenny Florian, Chad Mendes, Frankie Edgar, Chang Sung Jung and Ricardo Lamas.

He would lose the title to Conor McGregor in one of MMA's most highly-anticipated grudge matches.

In 2016, Aldo would defeat Edgar a second time to capture the interim UFC featherweight championship.

He would later be promoted to the lineal champion and would lose relinquish his hold of the belt to Max Holloway.

In 2019, Aldo would drop down to bantamweight in an attempt to make another run at UFC gold.

A year later, Aldo earned a world title shot but lost to Petr Yan for the vacant UFC bantamweight title.

In 2022, Aldo would retire from the sport following a decision loss to Merab Dvalishvili.