'The King Of Rio': Looking Back At Jose Aldo's Legendary MMA Career

One of the most celebrated and beloved mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters from Brazil will be taking his rightful place in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Hall of Fame.

At UFC 283 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil last Saturday, the promotion announced that former longtime featherweight champion Jose Aldo will be inducted into the Modern Wing of its Hall of Fame.

Affectionately known as "The King of Rio," Aldo was in attendance for last weekend's fights and could not help but shed a tear as he learned of his induction.

It was indeed a much-deserved honor for the 36-year-old, who pretty much became one of the pioneers and the face of the lighter weight divisions in the UFC.

A product of the famed Nova Uniao stable out of Rio de Janeiro, Aldo began his professional MMA career in 2004, competing in regional promotions such as Shooto Brazil, Rio MMA and Jungle Fight.

In 2008, Aldo got his big break in the North American market after signing with the now-defunct World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC), an up-and-coming organization out of Las Vegas, Nevada at the time.

With WEC, Aldo's star rapidly rose as he took out featherweight after featherweight with a viciousness that was unlike any other.

Aldo won all of his first four matches under the WEC banner by knockout to eventually earn a title eliminator bout against veteran Cub Swanson.

In what many consider to be Aldo's coming out party, Aldo demolished Swanson with a flying knee just eight seconds into the bout to earn a featherweight title shot against then-champion Mike Brown.

Like he did to those that came before, Aldo laid waste to Brown and snatched the WEC title to mark the beginning of one of the most iconic featherweight runs in MMA history.

Aldo would defend the WEC title twice more, defeating the legendary Urijah Faber and Manny Gamburyan.

He then earned a place in the history books as the company's final featherweight king.

With the UFC's purchase of WEC, Aldo's reign carried over and he was crowned as the UFC's inaugural 145-pound champion.

The letters in the title may have changed, but Aldo remained as dominant as ever, taking down contender after contender from 2011 to 2014.

Aldo's list of victims in the UFC reads like a who's-who of stars, which includes names like Mark Hominick, Kenny Florian, Chad Mendes, Frankie Edgar, Chan Sung Jung and Ricardo Lamas.

Aldo's legendary featherweight reign would come to an end at the hands of bitter rival Conor McGregor in 2015.

It wouldn't take long for Aldo to regain gold as he would defeat Edgar for a second time the following year to capture the interim UFC featherweight championship.

Aldo would later be promoted to the lineal champion after McGregor was forced to vacate the title.

Aldo's second reign would come to an end at the hands of another future Hall of Famer in Max Holloway.

In 2019, Aldo would drop down to the bantamweight division and try to make his way back to the pinnacle in a different division.

By this time, Aldo was no longer the fiery young knockout artist that made him so beloved by MMA fans the world over.

Aldo would get his chance at becoming UFC bantamweight champion, but he would ultimately fall short against Petr Yan.

He would reel off three more wins in the division, defeating top contenders like Marlon "Chito" Vera, Pedro Munhoz and Rob Font to put himself in title contention once again.

In 2022, Aldo would suffer a unanimous decision loss to Merab Dvashvili and subsequently announce his retirement.

To this day, Aldo is still widely considered the greatest featherweight in the history of the UFC, and he still holds the record for most consecutive title defenses in the division.

Aldo will no doubt be remembered as one of the UFC's most dominant champions and the man that put the featherweight division on the map.

From highlight reel knockouts to iconic post-fight celebrations, "The King of Rio" is indeed a legend, not just in the UFC, but also in the sport of MMA.