Jose Aldo was lording over the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s featherweight division for five years before Conor McGregor ended his reign with a quick win.
The Brazilian fighter, who is regarded as one of the greatest featherweights of all-time, fought ‘The Notorious’ at UFC 194 in December 2015 and ultimately lost his title in one of the quickest knockouts in UFC history.
McGregor needed only 13 seconds to finish the defending champion to stop Aldo’s emphatic seven-straight title defence.
Aldo would capture the interim featherweight title the following year by defeating Frankie Edgar and became the undisputed champion after McGregor was stripped of the title.
Unfortunately, he came up short of defending his UFC gold as he suffered a third round technical knockout loss to Max Holloway.
Going 3-4 since the 13-second loss to McGregor, Aldo has decided to leave the 145-pound class as he attempts to seize another belt at the bantamweight division.
Despite losing his debut, Aldo was booked for a title bout against Henry Cejudo but was forced out of the fight due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Confident
On Friday, Aldo spoke to Cris Cyborg on his YouTube channel and recalled how his quick loss to McGregor changed his life.
Going into this title fight, Aldo was confident of his chances in defending the belt and he didn’t see a single way for the Irishman to win.
“We never expect to lose — and lose like that,” Aldo said.
“It’s a sport and it’s 50-50, of course, it could happen one day. As long as we’re fighting, losing is a possibility, but I was so confident in my head going into this fight. ‘No, I’m super well-prepared, I can’t see how this guy wins.’”
“For everything that was said and everything that was going on, my team and I were positive that we would get there and defeat him. And that’s not what happened.”
“Right after that I said, ‘no, I’m the champion, that was only one fact that will never happen again in my life. That’s why I have to train twice as hard, see the mistakes I made and never make them again.’”
Grateful
Cyborg, a former UFC featherweight titlist like Aldo, also discussed the impact of her 51-second loss to Amanda Nunes.
“The worst thing there is after you lose a fight is to take a shower,” she said.
“You take a shower by yourself and that flash comes in your head all the time, and then you start to question (yourself). One side says something, the other side says something else.”
“There’s a fight inside your head every time you take a shower. The week after that fight was a difficult moment.”
“I see everything that happened as something for the better because I definitely became a better athlete and a better person, and I’m grateful.”
“I’m grateful for everything that happened.”
(Featured Image Source: Instagram/ Jose Aldo and YouTube/ UFC)