Should UFC 169 Be Jose Aldo’s Last Fight At Featherweight?
Former WEC/current UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo has achieved so much at the age of 27; the Brazilian fan favorite has amassed a 23-1 record in his nine year career, and is in most fan’s p4p list. It hasn’t all been a fairy tale for ‘Scarface’ since signing with the promotion in April 2001, as he has only competed five times during his stint.
His five title defences during that period have included some pretty gruelling battles too; first off was his UFC debut against Canadian ‘Machine’ Mark Hominick, which went down at UFC 129. Aldo and Hominick fought to the judges in a five round battle of attrition, Aldo won unanimously but looked shakey in the fifth after a barrage of elbows and punches by Hominick.
Aldo made a speedy comeback to action with another defense of his 145lb. title, this time he beat Kenny Florian by decision and followed up with a swift first round KO of Chad Mendes at UFC 142. Aldo was then scheduled to face Eric Koch at UFC 149, but was injured and remained inactive until his early 2013 scrap against Frankie Edgar.
Cue another five round war, Aldo won the unanimous decision at UFC 156 against the former LW boss and was scheduled to face Anthony Pettis at UFC 163 in a highly anticipated bout. Pettis fell victim to the injury curse and was eventually replaced by ‘Korean Zombie’ Chan Sung Jung.
A glance at the result, a fourth round TKO for Aldo (GIF courtesy of Zombie Prophet), doesn’t do justice to how brutal the fight was on both combatants. The wake of the fight saw both fighters laid off with a string of nasty injuries; a broken foot and kidney stones were included in Aldo’s post fight illnesses, and Zombie had a dislocated shoulder and broken eye socket to take home.
The effects of such a brutal sport are clearly having an impact on Aldo’s health, and at the age of 27 that’s not a good sign. Now scheduled to face heavy-hitting Ricardo Lamas at UFC 169, could it be time for Aldo to make his much discussed move to the Lightweight division?
The weight cuts that the FW champ makes are long and costly on his body. He is known for cutting a lot of weight, and his condition at weigh-in time is usually gaunt and dehydrated. Draining your body of fluids for such extended periods of time can have serious after effects; such as kidney stones, and worse.
Aldo has dominated the Featherweight division for a long time now, what does he have to prove? Obviously there is a ton of talent of 145, but Aldo would have to stay there for the next two years to clear that division out, and would his body really be able to take the strain? Frequent injuries and weight related illnesses could shorten Aldo’s career drastically, and I hope he considers the change.
With all things considered, I think Lightweight is the right place for Aldo to go after UFC 169 in February. Win or lose against Lamas, he should go to 155. There are a lot of great fights for him at LW, including the obvious title scrap against Anthony Pettis that should arguably be Aldo’s debut.
