The Bottom Line: A Rare Breed

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MMA is a sport of singular moments, not career achievements. We tend to remember the greatest fighters, not by the number of titles they captured or the unique records they held but by their most triumphant moments. That’s true, whether it’s Georges St. Pierre’s head kick of Matt Hughes, Fedor Emelianenko recovering from getting dropped on his head by Kevin Randleman and submitting him moments later or Anderson Silva … well, it’s hard to pick just one Silva highlight.

With Jose Aldo announcing his retirement from mixed martial arts competition, the tributes are pouring in for one of the greatest fighters in the history of the sport. MMA retirements are always uncertain, but if he never fights again, he will have one of the most impressive resumes ever assembled. However, fighters aren’t usually remembered by their resumes, so what defines Aldo more than anything else?

Aldo has certainly had his individual moments. Urijah Faber was the undisputed king of lighter-weight fighters in North America when Mike Thomas Brown knocked him out. People were thinking Brown might have a long run with the title. Instead, Aldo humbled him standing and on the ground in an emphatic, World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight title-winning performance. It was an eye-opener, even for those who were already believers in Aldo, but it also came on a smaller stage in the WEC and isn’t something that gets brought up much today.

Aldo’s fight with Faber was another moment that stands out for Aldo’s performance. It was the biggest fight in WEC history and the popular Faber’s chance to regain his title in his home city. Instead, Aldo brutalized “The California Kid” with arguably the most vicious series of leg kicks ever executed in a single fight. That Aldo didn’t get the finish is a tribute to Faber’s toughness because there was no good reason he was able to make it 25 minutes. Still, is any fighter going to be most remembered for leg kicks? If there is one, it’s Aldo, but that’s still a pretty narrow niche given fan preferences.

The clip that shows up most often in the Aldo highlight packages is the knee knockout of Chad Mendes in Rio de Janeiro. That was only the second Ultimate Fighting Championship card in Brazil since the Zuffa purchase of the company, and it was during the period when UFC running in Brazil meant the hottest atmosphere in MMA. Aldo took out an undefeated, dangerous challenger with a spectacular finish, and the explosion in the arena was something that has rarely been equaled in a sport known for its boisterous reactions to fight endings.

That’s as close as anything to Aldo’s one shining moment, but it again came in front of a small audience. The fight was major in Brazil, but outside of Aldo’s home market, the pay-per-view was not a hit at all. It was the least-purchased UFC pay-per-view in over four and a half years, since a European card headlined by Rich Franklin-Yushin Okami in 2007. Fans tend to remember fights they watched live better than ones they saw the highlights of later, no matter how impressive the highlights are. The biggest stages Aldo fought on usually didn’t correlate with his most spectacular wins.

If Aldo isn’t defined by memories of specific moments, he also has one of the best runs in MMA history in his favor. Few fighters have ever won 18 fights over the course of eight years against the quality of competition Aldo fought. He was the best in his division for over six years. Alexander Volkanovski is on a remarkable run in his own right, and he has only gone half as long as Aldo. The Brazilian’s dominance is one of the most impressive aspects of his career. When it comes to memories, however, that legacy is affected by the fact that Silva’s epic run overlapped with his, and “The Spider” is associated with that trait during that period more than Aldo.

If not the electric moments or the dominance, what might be Aldo’s defining characteristic? I would posit the most impressive part of the whole package is his longevity. This is a man who went 18 years without ever having a significant decline in performance. He may not have held a championship in recent years, but he has given the best in the world tough fights every time out. At an age and a mileage that fighters pretty much always suffer violent highlight-reel defeats, Aldo kept on giving his opponents all they could handle. He did not step aside or move into a shallower talent pool. He just kept fighting the best and representing himself the way that he always did. It defies logic in the world of MMA that a fighter lasted that long at that level. They don’t make too many like Aldo.