Did Jose Aldo decline, or did feather weights just get better?

[Mandy Guang]

Aldo is one of the greats at featherweight, but he lost his belt at a relatively young age (although people who have fought earlier and a lot often decline at a younger age).

When Aldo lost his belt to McGregor (followed by subsequent losses to Max and Volk), did Aldo lose because he declined in skill or did he lose because others in the game caught up and bested Aldo when he was at his best.

Do you think any version of Aldo beats McGregor, Max, and Volk?

 

[BangBang]

Bit of both. He's still the FW GOAT.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

The main thing I would say about FW's over Aldo's period is that on average they probably got bigger towards the end of his reign than they were at the start.

 

[RockyLockridge]

The Average FW began to get bigger

 

[PulsingJones]

Aldo was 28 when he started going downhill.

 

[sdpdude9]

He is much older in fight years than he is actual years. I think he’s declined a bit, but also started running into very, very good fighters that were bigger than him. But it’s amazing how he’s managed to remain relevant and how well the drop down in weight worked for him. I still think he has a legit shot at a belt, which is crazy to think about. Man is a damn legend.

 

[15089371]

Most fighters in the weightclasses are now bigger on average as Max and Volk also are big and could fight at 155, while Aldo is was more towards the 135 side which also makes a difference. Aside from that you gotta give Max and Volk the credit, I believe Aldo declined a little bit but not the point where you can't give them the credit.

 

[Karelinator]

Both.

He grew weary after doing it for over a decade, while the division spaened monsters like Volkanovski and Holloway in meantime.

 

[Deleted member 110072]

Aldo was 28 when he started going downhill.

He did start early though.

I think he followed a lot of great fighters that he became narrower in style with age, in his case more dependant on working that jab from range.

 

[vivi]

Aldo at that point had too much mileage to deal with some relatively younger and bigger fighters.
Moving down to BW gave him a second wind he needed to be able to dominate guys his size but lose to some of the elites still. A prime Aldo at BW would probably have been the BW goat.

Although I’m so surprised he can safely make the weight down especially because he had some weight cut problems in the UFC at FW. Or so we heard.

 

[jitzmonkey]

His body seems like it couldn't take his explosive style.
Not sure if it was the way that he trained, or what exactly; but he's much more measured now instead of exploding in and out.

A perfect example is when he got KO'd by Conor (because he was predictable.)

Conor was waiting to land that shot. We later saw footage of him working it in the back (a la Jorge and his Askren knee.)

Aldo still landed the left hook (a split second after getting starched) and actually cut Conor while he was falling forward...
He covered a very large distance very quickly with enough speed and precision that the shot did damage even a split second after he was already out.

Those sorts of hyper explosive movements (on generally hard surfaces) are going to reek havoc on knees, ankles, hips, etc...
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Now he's more measured and a wiley (slick) veteran.

 

[Dominic Kosteris]

Both. He had a lot of mileage. I think the Conor fight may have hurt him psychologically. That's a tough one to rebound from. I do remember Aldo being considered a big Featherweight when he ruled the roost. He's noticeably smaller than Holloway, Volk, Yair and Ortega. Glad that his career has rebounded. I say give him a title shot next. Aldo vs TJ or Sterling will sell.

 

[acannxr]

did Aldo lose because he declined in skill or did he lose because others in the game caught up and bested Aldo when he was at his best.

Fight mileage and injuries caught up with Aldo before he lost to McGregor, but he just happens to be such a great talent that he has remained competitive with new contenders.

Do you think any version of Aldo beats McGregor, Max, and Volk?

Pre-broken foot Aldo defeats them all.

 

[Iron Nick]

Both, even though Aldo's overall decline is overstated.
While he declined physically, his boxing got significantly better in the meantime.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Both. He had a lot of mileage. I think the Conor fight may have hurt him psychologically. That's a tough one to rebound from. I do remember Aldo being considered a big Featherweight when he ruled the roost. He's noticeably smaller than Holloway, Volk, Yair and Ortega. Glad that his career has rebounded. I say give him a title shot next. Aldo vs TJ or Sterling will sell.

He was a decent size compared to the FWs he came through with but at the time he came up people like Faber and Cruz were fighting at 145. The idea of Faber being a 145 champ today is pretty preposterous.

 

[BFoe]

Like others said, it’s both. In think it’s more an issue of Aldo declining, but there’s certainly been some evolution in the division too.

While Aldo was 28 years old when he lost to Conor, he also had a series of injuries before UFC 125, 149, 153, 176, 189, and then later before 212….I mean Good Lord. He had been fighting professionally for 12 years and was 28 fights or so deep into his career when he fought Conor. Being that young, as well as a total badass, has allowed him to stay competitive up to the present day (albeit in a lighter weight class), but there’s no doubt he was no longer peak Aldo at that time.

 

[KoChang]

Truly one of the all-time greats. His accomplishments against the absolute best of 2 divisions spanning two decades is unheard of. He's my pound-for-pound goat.

 

[Prologue]

Half the game is 90% mental breh!

When a fighter gets that GOAT level aura, they have massive mental advantage. They have all the confidence in the world, where their opponent second guesses every move. They think too much, fail to act, etc. etc.

That GOAT fighter takes a devastating loss, that mentality flips. There is blood in the water now. Aldo has mileage for sure, but he was not someone to fear after McGregor.

That said, his ability to keep making comebacks has been a testament to his skill and ability.

 

[cooks1]

Aldo is one of the greats at featherweight, but he lost his belt at a relatively young age (although people who have fought earlier and a lot often decline at a younger age).

When Aldo lost his belt to McGregor (followed by subsequent losses to Max and Volk), did Aldo lose because he declined in skill or did he lose because others in the game caught up and bested Aldo when he was at his best.

Do you think any version of Aldo beats McGregor, Max, and Volk?

It's a lot of things. There is a great line in an Indiana Jones film: 'It's not the years honey, it's the mileage'.



Though he was only 28 when he fought McGregor, Aldo had already spent the prior 6-7 years fighting the top FW's in the world. His 4 fights prior to McGregor were 3- 5 rounders and a 4 rounder.

All while this was going on, new fighters were coming up, evolving, and getting ever larger. It's telling that in addition to Aldo moving to 135, 3 of the top fighters he fought while at the top have either fought at 135 or are about to. Fighters have been getting bigger for their weight class for a while now. matt hughes was a large WW during his era. Now he would be an average LW.

As the great Tony Montana said,

 

[daltonames]

"he lost his belt at a relatively young age"

This is true but he had defended it 9 times (including WEC) and been champ for 6 years. Remember as well, he turned pro at 17 and was champ at 23.

Prime Aldo was super athletic and super fast twitch muscles, which is not going to sustain for 10+ years. I think WEC Aldo and early UFC reign Aldo beats Max, especially with the leg kicks. Volk ... I dunno. Would've been fun to watch tho.