Fighter Profile: Jose Aldo

Overall Record: 17-1 (7-0 WEC)

Hometown: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Height: 5’ 7” Weight: 145

Age: 23

Jose “Junior” Aldo is a six year mixed martial artist that has gained recent notoriety after winning the WEC Featherweight Title. Known as a black belt in jiu-jitsu, Aldo has finished eleven opponents out of sixteen victories with a KO or TKO. The 23-year old Brazilian fights out of Rio de Janeiro where he trains with Team Nova Uniao.

Aldo began in August 2004 when he built his professional resume by fighting in a number of small-time organizations. He picked up seven wins in Brazil by fighting in organizations like Shooto Brazil, Meca Vale Tudo, and Rio MMA Challenge. He also picked up a pair of victories in England for the FX 3 and UK-1 organizations. His final win prior to signing with the WEC took place in Japan at the 2007 Pancrase Neo-Blood Tournament Finals where he earned a unanimous decision over Shoji Maruyama.

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Aldo was stopped only once through the first three years of his career. He was submitted by Luciano Azevedo via rear naked choke at Jungle Fight 5 in November 2005. He compiled notable victories over Phil Harris, Mickey Young, and Fabio Mello during that span.

With a 10-1 record, Aldo made his way to North American soil to fight for the World Extreme Cagefighting organization. He made his organizational debut in June 2008 at WEC 34 against notable grappler and fellow jiu-jitsu ace Alexandre Nogueira. It took Aldo 3:22 into the 2nd round to finish Nogueira via TKO for his first promotional win.

He picked up three more TKO victories in a little over five months while fighting for the WEC. He recorded victories at WEC 36 (November 2008), WEC 38 (January 2009), and WEC 39 (March 2009) over Jonathan Brookins, Rolando Perez, and Chris Mickle respectively. At his WEC 38 victory over Perez, Aldo also took home a considerable bonus for his “Knockout of the Night” award.

After going four-for-four in his WEC fights, “Junior” received his stiffest test to date when he was matched up against Cub Swanson at WEC 41 in June 2009. His main card duel was devised not only to see if Aldo was “for real” but also to come up with a number one contender for the WEC Featherweight Championship. He answered all of the questions that night, needing only 8 seconds to land two flying knees in order to TKO Swanson and earn the next crack at featherweight gold.

On November 18, 2009, Aldo was pitted against defending WEC Featherweight champion, Mike Brown in the WEC 44 main event. He utilized his quickness and striking accuracy to demolish Brown 1:20 into the 2nd round for his sixth straight TKO victory. With his third “Knockout of the Night” award, Junior became the new featherweight champion and the new “man to beat” in the WEC’s growing 145-pound division.

Recent Jose Aldo MMA News & Results:

• Defeated Cub Swanson by TKO at WEC 41 on June 7, 2009 - WEC 41 results

• Defeated Mike Thomas Brown by TKO at WEC 44 on November 18, 2009 in Las Vegas, NV - WEC 44 results

• Defeated Urijah Faber in his first WEC Featherweight title defense by Unanimous Decision at WEC 48 on April 24, 2010 - WEC 48 results

• Faced Manny Gamburyan at WEC 51 on September 30, 2010 - WEC 51 results

By Nick Russell
ProFighting-fans.com Senior MMA Staff Writer
Published January 2010

Photo courtesy of the WEC & Zuffa