Is Jose Aldo The World’s Best Pound-For-Pound Fighter?

With the dust settled on last night’s (Sat., October 25, 2014) UFC 179 pay-per-view (PPV) from Maracanãzinho Gym in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo sits as the clear leader of the buzzing 145-pound arena after his thrilling five round defense over Chad Mendes.

Mendes isn’t all that far behind Aldo, evident by the way “Money” left the champion’s face looking after UFC 179. However, he was also very nearly finished by the champion last night, and he’s already lost to Aldo twice.

A full slate of talented featherweight contenders awaits Aldo, from the winner of next month’s awaited Cub Swanson vs. Frankie Edgar bout to rising No. 5 contender Conor McGregor, whom Aldo called the “joker” in his court at last night’s UFC 179 post-fight presser.

As Aldo prepares to face a new wave of elite featherweight talent, the discussion should not be focused on whether or not he is the finest featherweight in the world. No, the discussion should come down to if he has finally surpassed Jon Jones as the world’s top pound-for-pound fighter.

It’s a close one, and a discussion that has many valid points to each side of the argument.

As the first and only UFC featherweight champion, Aldo has defended his belt seven times. He beat Mark Hominick, Kenny Florian, Mendes, Frankie Edgar, Chan Sung Jung, Ricardo Lamas, and Mendes again.

That’s quite the impressive gauntlet of top-level featherweight talent. Is it enough to earn the distinction of the world’s greatest fighter?

By comparison, after defeating Mauricio “Shogun” Rua for the title in March 2011, Jones defended his belt against “Rampage” Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, Vitor Belfort, Chael Sonnen, Alexander Gustafsson, and Glover Teixeira. That sounds like a much better resume of opposition, at least on paper.

Jones also finished five of those eight opponents, while Aldo has only notched two UFC finishes (and one was an injury stoppage against Jung).

You could argue that Jones is only dominant because he maintains such a massive size advantage over his opponents, and there is probably some truth to that theory. Yet Aldo has always been known for being an absolutely hulking featherweight who has long been rumored to move up and fight at lightweight.

He made Mendes, who is no small featherweight by any standard, look small in the octagon at UFC 179.

Aldo’s toughest work may also be ahead of him. Swanson appears motivated beyond belief, and Edgar isn’t far behind in his quest to get back to another title shot. A fight with McGregor is undoubtedly looming, and “Notorious” has the conditioning to take Aldo into deep water.

The blueprint to beat “Junior” is there. Edgar turned it on against a noticeably tired Aldo in the later rounds at UFC 156 in February 2013, and even Hominick battered the champion in the fifth round of the inaugural UFC featherweight title fight at UFC 129. Mendes also had him extremely winded in the championship rounds last night.

If a fighter is able to take Aldo into the fourth and fifth rounds with enough gas left to keep a bunch of pressure on him, he may have a chance to dethrone the king. Of course that’s easier said than done, as it felt like he literally could have knocked out Mendes with any one of his pinpoint punches last night.

He’ll always have that lethal power, and for those that say he hasn’t evolved, well, he is obviously so far ahead of his competition that he simply hasn’t had to.

By the same token, is the blueprint truly there to beat Jones? He’s destroyed high-level wrestlers, boxers, karate specialists, Muay Thai experts, karate black belts, and submission masters alike. He’s nearly impossible to take down and submit, and if a fighter tries to strike with him, he picks them apart with his reach.

But has Jones been forced to evolve? After Gustafsson took him to the limit at UFC 165, it could be argued that he’s going to have to. At UFC 182, he’ll face off with arguably the best wrestling fighting in MMA in Daniel Cormier, and he’s clearly going to have to adapt his game if he wants to keep the title on January 3.

A rematch with Gustafsson is also looming, and Jones will have to both improve and mix up his game in order to beat “The Mauler” for a second time.

So what does all this add up to? I’d have to say that Aldo got tantalizingly close to Jones’ top spot at UFC 179, but he didn’t quite get there. Jones simply has a better resume and a longer list of finishes right now.

If Aldo finishes Swanson, Edgar, or McGregor, then he may gain the momentum to overtake “Bones.” If he wins both of his next two fights by decision and Jones continues to win, it’ll be an extremely tough call to make.

Aldo is certainly nearing the top spot of the pound-for-pound rankings, but he isn’t quite there yet in my opinion. What do you think?

Photo Credit: Joe Camporeale for USA TODAY Sports