A pioneer, one of the greatest of all time and a champion, with or without a belt.
For more recently converted fans of the sport, the vision of Jose Aldo lying face down on the canvas at the final bell was nothing more than an expected reminder of Conor McGregor’s meteoric rise to the top of his division.
But for fans who have followed MMA since the years prior to the UFC’s formation of its featherweight division, the image of Aldo struggling to get back to his feet was nothing short of heartbreaking.
It was like watching a champion stallion pull up lame as he reached the final hurdle. It was like watching the dying embers of a camp-fire, that had kept you warm for hours, be coldly extinguished with a downpour of rain. It was sad.
But that’s the name of the game.
Fighters dominate before they reach a certain age and then those same fighters are dominated.
Jose Aldo had never been knocked out in his professional career but he truly looked to be past his best as his typically disciplined guard was penetrated within mere seconds by McGregor’s heat-seeking missile of a left hook.
Aldo overextended on a right hand and was countered in a way that the Jose of old would never have been.
But the abuse that was volleyed Aldo’s way in the hours following the final bell was disgusting and everything that mixed martial arts should strive to fight against.
In this modern world that enables people to adopt multiple personalities, hide their true identity and play Monday morning analyst, it’s become commonplace to mock athletes for their failures.
It’s one thing to spend the next few days talking to friends, ridiculing Aldo’s possibly naive gameplan.
But to actually tag the legend’s personal account in tweets saying things like “Jose Aldo should be banned from Brazil for that shit,” (actual tweet) is pretty damn sociopathic.
No rational-thinking human would think it’s appropriate to walk up to somebody and say “you’re not good at your job, you don’t deserve to be in it.”
So why do some feel that they have the right to take swipes at people online who are far braver, far more talented and far more motivated than most of us could ever dream to be?
Aldo put everything on the line and, sure, he came out second best but let’s remember that Jose Aldo will go down as one of the greatest fighters ever to lace his gloves.
Unbeaten in 10 years, previously the only UFC featherweight champion in history and, on his day, one of the most lethal strikers ever seen in the octagon.
So give him some fucking respect! He’s dealing with enough right now and should be logging on to his various social media accounts to see well-wishes, thanks and tributes to the legacy he’s created.
Something has definitely changed in the collective consciousness that, nowadays, people can dehumanise certain figures – ‘he’s not a person who will actually read and be hurt by these comments, he’s just a Twitter handle that allows me to be funny.’
When Mike Tyson was knocked out by Buster Douglas in 1990, most had written it off as a bad day at the office from Iron Mike. Even as recently as 2007, when Matt Serra knocked out GSP, nobody claimed that Georges St-Pierre was suddenly a terrible fighter.
So why has that happened to Jose Aldo? I don’t have the answer to that question but the fact that it has makes me sick to my stomach.
The Brazilian has been nothing but good for the sport and shone a spotlight on the lighter weight classes back when Conor McGregor was yet to make his professional debut.
Without Aldo, the UFC’s featherweight division would not be anywhere close to where it is now. He set the framework, and benchmark, for an entire generation of featherweights.
Not only did he accept, prepare for and dominate all comers but he did so in a way that makes him a true hero of the sport.
He was never anything but perfectly respectful, always a shining example for young fighters getting into the sport and he was, is and will always be a true great.
This isn’t a farewell letter to Aldo because I truly believe he will be back and, at 29, there’s much more than a glimmer of a chance that he could reclaim his belt.
But he must recover. And he should be doing that without the tidal wave of negativity and mockery that even the most positive person would fail to rise above.
Aldo will return, he’ll be matched up with a top 10 fighter and, win or lose, he should give a better account of himself and his legacy than Saturday night.
McGregor is the champion now and deserves all the plaudits but there will only ever be one “first ever” and that’s the leg-kick phenom, the BJJ black belt and the pioneer, Jose Aldo, who deserves nothing but our unconditional respect.
