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Jose Aldo is one of the greatest fighters of all time. He ruled the featherweight division for years in the WEC and continued in the UFC when the promotions merged. Aldo’s dominant reign was comparable to what fellow UFC champions Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre were doing in their respective weight-classes. His fighting style made him a fan-favorite as he always looked to finish fights in devastating fashion.
Prior to losing his UFC featherweight championship to Conor McGregor at UFC 194, Aldo was unbeaten for a decade. His last loss was to Luciano Azevedo in a lightweight bout at Jungle Fight 5 in only his eighth professional fight. Aldo’s remarkable decade-long winning streak saw him become WEC and UFC featherweight champion. Aldo’s winning streak included wins over UFC Hall of Famers Urijah Faber and Frankie Edgar.
During Aldo’s career, there have been many fights that were in the works but didn’t come to fruition. This list will look at 5 Jose Aldo fights that never happened.
5) Aldo vs. Henry Cejudo - UFC bantamweight championship
Kicking off this list is the proposed fight between Jose Aldo and Henry Cejudo. The global pandemic put a halt to a lot of plans. One of those plans was the scheduled UFC bantamweight championship bout between Aldo and then-champion Cejudo.
Prior to the pandemic, Aldo vs. Cejudo was scheduled for UFC 250 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. However, the fight then moved to UFC 249 in Jacksonville, Florida, which was the promotion’s first event since the shutdown. Aldo was in a unique situation as he received a title-shot as he came off a split-decision loss to Marlon Moraes.
Unfortunately for Aldo, he was forced to withdraw from the event because of visa issues and was replaced by Dominick Cruz. Cejudo won and retired during his post-fight interview.
It would have been interesting to see how a Cejudo vs. Aldo bout would have gone. Cejudo’s Olympic wrestling background will always make him a threat. However, Aldo's takedown defense is legendary, and his high-level striking has only grown sharper since his move down to bantamweight.
4) Aldo vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov
Another Jose Aldo fight that never happened was one against former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. It may come as a surprise, but that was in fact the case. Although Khabib and Aldo competed at different weight-classes, there was an opportunity for them to meet in the octagon at 155lbs. In December 2016, there were discussions about Aldo moving up to lightweight for a bout with Khabib.
Khabib came off a win over Michael Johnson and was viewed as one of the top contenders in the division. With that in mind, Aldo saw fighting Khabib as an opportunity to get a rematch with then-UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor.
There’s clearly no love lost between the two. Khabib was dismissive of the idea of Aldo peaking again at bantamweight after his loss to Petr Yan. That didn’t sit well with Aldo, who didn’t hold back in his response.
“Sometimes Khabib talks too much. He’s not doing much these days, he’s retired, so he’s looking for [attention] that way," Jose Aldo said on the Trocação Franca podcast.
3) Aldo vs. Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis
Another Jose Aldo fight that never happened was against Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis. The bout between then-UFC featherweight champion Aldo and Pettis looked like it was set to headline UFC 163. However, Pettis withdrew after sustaining an injury and was replaced by Chan Sung Jung.
At the time, Pettis was a top lightweight contender and Aldo had defended his title against former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar. Fans were excited about the two former WEC champions going at it.
Pettis became famous in WEC for his iconic showtime kick that saw him run off the cage in order to drop Benson Henderson. Aldo on the other hand, was known for his knockout power, which was on full display in the WEC. Pettis competed at featherweight twice, but neither of those bouts were against Aldo.
2) Aldo vs. Dominick Cruz
One of the biggest Jose Aldo fights that never happened is one against former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz. Both Aldo and Cruz are widely regarded as the greatest fighters in their respective weight-classes. Both fighters were champions and dominant during their reigns, but never fought one another in a superfight.
The former UFC and WEC bantamweight champion defeated a who’s who at 135lbs. Some of Cruz’s wins include Joseph Benavidez, Urijah Faber, Demetrious Johnson, and T.J. Dillashaw. Unfortunately for Cruz, he missed a great deal of time due to injuries.
Perhaps now that both Aldo and Cruz are competing at bantamweight, fans may get to see a superfight between the two. It’s hard to believe that the UFC haven’t already booked the fight, especially since they’ve been close in the rankings.
1) Aldo vs. Conor McGregor 2
Topping this list of Jose Aldo fights that never happened is a rematch with ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor. The first fight between Aldo and McGregor saw one of the most memorable outcomes in UFC history. McGregor caught Aldo with a powerful left-hand and knocked him out in 13-seconds of the first-round. Aldo had been unbeaten for a decade and had successfully defended his UFC featherweight championship 7-times.
The first fight would lead to McGregor becoming the biggest star in the sport. Unlike other dominant champions like Anderson Silva, Aldo never received an immediate rematch as the promotion had other plans. McGregor ended up having back-to-back fights with Nate Diaz at welterweight.
Meanwhile, Aldo defeated Edgar at UFC 200 to become interim-UFC featherweight champion with McGregor looking on cageside. It looked like Aldo and McGregor were heading towards a rematch. However, McGregor would challenge then-UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez instead.
