José Aldo da Silva Oliveira Júnior (Portuguese pronunciation: [ʒoˈzɛ ˈawdu]; born 9 September 1986), known as José Aldo, is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist and professional boxer[7] who currently competes in the Bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) after previously competing at Featherweight, and was the fourth and final WEC Featherweight Champion.

[9][10][11] After his first MMA defeat in November 2005, Aldo remained undefeated for over a decade, winning 18 straight fights until UFC 194 in December 2015, when he lost to Conor McGregor.

[13] In Sherdog's April 2017 pound-for-pound ranking, Aldo was called "the greatest featherweight in mixed martial arts history.

But Aldo grew tired of getting beaten up in fights on the street, thus starting to train capoeira to learn ways to defend himself better in brawls.

At the age of 17, Aldo moved from Manaus to Rio de Janeiro having only his clothes with him and determination to train mixed martial arts there until he achieved something in the sport.

[19][20] Known by the nickname "Junior", José Aldo da Silva Oliveira Júnior fought his very first professional MMA fight at the age of 17 at EcoFight 1 on 10 August 2004.

He quickly gained mount, where he rained down punches before transitioning to an arm-triangle choke, forcing de Paula to tap at 1:54 of the first round.

He next fought Vale Tudo and Shooto veteran Aritano Silva Barbosa, who had lost four of his last five fights, at Rio MMA Challenge 1 on 12 May 2005.

[21] Only a month later, in November 2005, Aldo went up a weight class to lightweight and fought respected Luta Livre black belt Luciano Azevedo at Jungle Fight 5.

Aldo won the first round, winning most of the exchanges with solid combinations and leg kicks and stuffing Azevedo's numerous takedown attempts (he was nearly taken down early in the round, but appeared to purposefully fall out of the ropes to force a restart from the referee), as well as landing a solid knee as Azevedo went for a takedown.

The referee restarted the fight in the center of the ring, where Azevedo locked his legs around Aldo in a body triangle.

[26] Aldo made his debut for mixed martial arts promoter World Extreme Cagefighting on 1 June 2008, at the Arco Arena in Sacramento, California.

Aldo won his fight on 7 June 2009, at WEC 41 against Cub Swanson via double flying knee eight seconds into the first round.

[34] Aldo and his camp have often mentioned his desire to eventually make the move up in weight to the lightweight division (155-pound limit).

[39] Aldo made his first title defense against Mark Hominick on 30 April 2011, at UFC 129 by defeating the Canadian by a unanimous decision in a bout that earned Fight of the Night honors.

[40][41] Aldo had his second title defense against Kenny Florian on 8 October 2011, at UFC 136,[42] where he won by unanimous decision.

His post-fight celebration, where he sprinted out of the cage and into the crowd at the HSBC Arena in Rio, is regarded as one of his most iconic moments as champion.

[47] This performance resulted in Aldo setting the record for most championship bouts, including his original title plus three defences.

[68] Aldo faced interim featherweight champion Max Holloway in a title unification bout on 3 June 2017, in the main event at UFC 212.

[71] Aldo was scheduled to face Ricardo Lamas on 16 December 2017, at UFC on Fox: Lawler vs. dos Anjos.

[72] However, Aldo was pulled from the bout in favour of a rematch with Holloway two weeks earlier at UFC 218, replacing an injured Frankie Edgar.

[82] On 24 June 2019, it was announced that Aldo had signed a new exclusive eight-fight contract with the UFC prior to his bout with Volkanovski.

This marked a major deviation from Aldo's previous firm stance on retiring by the end of 2019, in which he stated "I had already planned to stop when I was 30 years old and begin something else.

[98] On 18 September 2022, the same day as the birth of his son, it was announced that Aldo had retired from MMA with one fight remaining on his UFC contract.

[99] Despite the initial reports, Aldo remains under contract with the UFC but was granted a permission to pursue opportunities in other sports.

[105] After many years of publicly voicing his will to box, Aldo fought Emmanuel Zambrano in an exhibition bout on 10 February 2023 at the Nova Uniano Upper Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

[107] After the bout, it was reported that Aldo was in talks to have an exhibition bout with American professional boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr.[108] On 1 April 2023, Aldo made his professional boxing debut against American mixed martial artist Jeremy Stephens on the undercard of Roy Jones Jr. vs. Anthony Pettis at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

[109] On 2 July 2023, Aldo faced Brazilian professional boxer Esteban Gabriel Espindola at the Nova Uniano Upper Arena in Rio de Janeiro.

[111][112] His Luta Livre instructor lineage is as follows: Roberto Leitão Sr. → João Ricardo N. de Almeida → Marco Ruas → José Aldo.

[116] Aldo is an avid football fan and supports Clube de Regatas do Flamengo and English Premier League club Chelsea FC.