Jose Aldo makes his retirement official at UFC Rio

Jose Aldo is calling it a career again.

The former featherweight champion made a surprise appearance at the UFC Rio card on Saturday after his music hit and he made his way to the octagon. Aldo embraced cheers from the Brazilian crowd before laying his gloves down in the center of the cage to signify his retirement from the sport.

With tears in his eyes, Aldo waved to the crowd as his family joined him in the octagon to enjoy the moment together.

If this is truly the end, Aldo is actually retiring for a second time after he hung up his gloves back in 2022 following a loss to Merab Dvalishvili in a fight that could have potentially vaulted him back to title contention. Instead, Aldo dropped a decision and later announced his retirement from the sport.

While he remained under UFC contract, Aldo did engage in a couple of boxing matches including a back and forth battle with Jeremy Stephens that ended in a draw.

Less than two years after he retired, Aldo made the surprising move to return to the UFC when the promotion had a card planned for Brazil back in May 2024. Aldo scored an impressive decision win over Jonathan Martinez in his first fight back.

That ultimately stood as the final win of his career with Aldo dropping a razor-close split decision to Mario Bautista and then falling in a war with Aiemann Zahabi back in May.

Obviously, Aldo didn’t decide to retire that night and instead opted to wait until the UFC returned to his native Brazil where he laid down his gloves seemingly for the final time.

If this really is the end, Aldo retires with a 32-10 record and he remains the longest reigning featherweight champion in UFC history with seven consecutive defenses. He was also inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2023.