Jose Aldo may have just made a stark admission — albeit accidentally, thanks to a slip of the tongue. The former UFC featherweight champion, who suffered just his fifth loss in the division at UFC 315 last weekend, subsequently made it his retirement outing.
After losing a hard-fought, contentious unanimous decision against Aiemann Zahabi, Aldo called time on his Octagon career for good this time. He was entering the bout on the back of a disappointing decision loss to Mario Bautista at UFC 307 last year. Despite that, and the fact that everyone knew he was fast approaching the end of his career, Aldo was touted to win.
But then, Aldo was quick to accept what the loss meant for him and his career. “The cage has always been my place. The struggle, my life. I’m not going back because I have already fulfilled my purpose with blood, sweat, discipline, and honor,” Aldo wrote on Instagram.
Aldo’s career has indeed been a stellar one with its fair share of big wins and losses as well. But it seems he may have been hiding a significant fact all the while.
A week after quitting the sport, the Brazilian claimed he was fast approaching his 50th birthday — despite the fact that he is billed at 38 years of age.
“I don’t see myself fighting [again],” Aldo said during a presser at Nova Uniao.
“When I went back [to the UFC in 2024], it wasn’t for money, it was for a purpose. I had a calling. I tried doing it and it didn’t work. I gave my all and was happy with everything I’ve achieved,” he added.
The inadvertent admission of age came as Aldo, rather verbosely, expressed his stance to stay firmly away from action.
“There’s no fight that would make me come back,” Aldo continued. “To put [on] the gi, to spar, or do anything, only in five years. Thank God, I’ll be almost 50 in five years, so there’s no possibility of fighting, there’s no calling.”
And this isn’t the first time Aldo’s age — or his apparent lying about it — has been a topic of controversy.
Gilbert Burns questions Aldo’s actual age
Aldo’s countryman Gilbert Burns had backed him to beat Zahabi. And, while giving his take ahead of the fight, he also claimed that he believed Aldo was actually one to two years older than billed. He explained it by reflecting on the time they trained together.
“If you saw he [Aldo] just turned 38 not long ago, I’m 38, but I remember we were both… I was 18 years old in Brazil, I was a blue belt,” Burns said on the Show Me The Money podcast.
“And Jose Aldo was kinda, like, 19 to 20 when he moved to Rio, and he was a purple belt. Now I’m older than him. I remember when we were blue belt, I was 1 or 2 years younger than him,” Burns claimed.
“Now I’m older than him. I don’t know what happened, but I’m older than Jose Aldo, I don’t know,” he joked.
Regardless of his age or the new mystery surrounding it, if Aldo is older than we think, that only makes his stunning achievements in the UFC even more impressive.
