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FIGHTER SPOTLIGHT: Very First UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo
Nov 5, 2010 - 9:00:15 PM FIGHTER SPOTLIGHT: Very First UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo

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By: Dan Wyatt, MMATorch Contributor

Name: Jose “Junior” Aldo

Promotion: UFC

Division: 145

Height: 5 ft 7 in

Reach: 70 in

Record: 18-1

Specializes: Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Career Summary: How excited are you that the UFC finally brought in the 145 lb. and 135 lb. divisions? This brings two great divisions more into the spotlight as opposed to being in the shadow of the UFC while fighting for the WEC. And perhaps the most exciting news was that the first ever UFC Featherweight Champion would be making his first ever title defense at UFC 125. Jose Aldo has accomplished a lot, from being an underfed boy in Brazil to now being in the spotlight of the fast growing sport in the world.

Aldo began his pro career at the young age of 17 fighting in a local Brazilian promotion. His next fight was on a bigger stage in Shooto Brazil, he won both of his fights in the promotion, including an arm triangle choke in just less than two minutes.

Aldo would pick up four more wins before facing his most experienced opponent to date, Luciano Azevedo. Aldo won the first round with effective striking and by stuffing Azevedo’s takedown attempts. In the second round, however Azevedo secured a takedown and passed Aldo's guard and worked his way into mount. Aldo gave up his back and Azevedo sunk in the fight ending rear naked choke.

Aldo bounced back with three straight wins, including one in Japan fighting for Pancrase, before he got his shot at the WEC. Aldo, being a featherweight, was restricted in promotions as many didn’t offer weight classes below 155 lbs., so the WEC was the biggest promotion for him.

He transitioned seamlessly to the WEC, winning fight after fight and even getting "Knockout of the Night" in his third fight in the promotion. He continued winning and quickly climbed the ranks. At WEC 41 Aldo fought Cub Swanson, and just eight seconds into the bout he landed a phenomenal double knee in midair to knock out his opponent. After winning so many fights in spectacular fashion he was given his title shot against the champion, Mike Brown.

The first round was mostly stand up with Aldo utilizing his speed advantage to beat Brown to the punch and mixing in his vicious leg kicks. The second round saw Brown shoot for a couple takedowns only to be reversed by Aldo. Aldo quickly moved into mount and eventually Brown gave up his back and Aldo beat him until the ref was forced to stop the fight.

After winning the title in dominating style his first title defense was the former champion, Urijah Faber. Faber was a former collegiate wrestler who had a long stretch as the featherweight champion. Aldo dominated the fight and made proof of how powerful his leg kicks are when Faber posted pictures of how swollen his thigh was after the fight.

Aldo moved on to former TUF competitor, Manny Gamburyan. Gamburyan was a stocky featherweight who had made a reputation for heavy hands and for being an excellent judo practitioner. Early in the fight Gamburyan was looking for a knockout by swinging his heavy hands, but Aldo was consistently quicker to the punch. The fight was ended in the second as Aldo knocked out his opponent to retain his belt.

Aldo had made comments about possibly going up a weight class to fight in the UFC, but instead the UFC came to him. On October 28, 2010 Dana White announced a merger between the WEC and the UFC; this was the biggest news in recent MMA history. The WEC had folded weight classes before into the UFC, but with a full merger it brought smaller weight classes into the UFC, something that had been long overdue. Aldo was announced as the UFC Featherweight Champion and would defend his belt at UFC 125, though an opponent was not announced. The rumors pointed to Josh Grispi, or possibly a UFC lightweight would drop down to take on the champ; however it was later confirmed that Grispi would fight for the Championship.

Strengths: Aldo's most obvious strength is his striking. What's not known is how great he is at varying his style, looking at the Gamburyan he began the fight in a traditional Muay Thai stance and used explosive kicks to control the ground. However in the second round he came out in a boxing stance and controlled the fight with his fist, it doesn't sound like much but if you don't know if your leg is going to be kicked out from under you or your head knocked off it makes it hard to defend.

Though he is a great striker he is just as good if not better on the ground, he just doesn't need it. He has a great ability of passing guard and achieving the full mount and completely neutralizing his opponent's ground defense.

Weaknesses: Aldo hasn't shown much of a weakness in his game, he dominates because he masters all points of his game. A question could be his submission defense though, the Azevedo fight was one of the only times we've seen him pressured from a guy on top of him, and his opponent was able to get in a choke. Though it's doubtful that Aldo has a pedestrian takedown defense because Azevedo has an amazing submission game, it does raise questions.

Where he stands in the division: Aldo is the best featherweight and possibly best pound for pound fighter in the world, and with the merger he's on top of the world.

What the future holds: Aldo is going to take on Josh Grispi at 125, and assuming he gets by his next opponent he could have a whole new set of opponents. Many lightweights are naturally too small for the weight class but don't fight at featherweight because of the lack of opportunities. So with the merger we could see guys like Frankie Edgar, Tyson Griffin, or Clay Guida.

On deck for next week: I'll be continuing my bandwagon of smaller fighters by taking a look at Urijah Faber as he takes on Takeya Mizugaki on the upcoming WEC 52 card.

Dan Wyatt is a communications major in college looking at a career in sports radio and sports writing. Outside of sports you can find him doing stand up comedy or acting in the upcoming independent film, Company of the Damned.