Jose Aldo Junior Stars In “Cabra”

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Jose Aldo Junior is to the best of my knowledge, The greatest mixed martial artist of all time. Of course that an incredibly subjective claim and you are allowed your own opinion. That being said I am writing this article and thats how I feel. I believe that for quite a few reasons, Mainly for what I would call his “2-wayness”. In basketball this is a player who is equally important on the offensive and defensive side of the floor. I think when you factor in his defensive ability (Particularly his defensive wrestling) Paired with his obvious striking prowess… You can see my point. But I’m not here to change nor sway your opinion. Im here to highlight greatness through my own lens. So without further Aldo…(I’m very proud of myself for that lol)

As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, His takedown defense is one of the most important facets of his game. “Defense wins championships” is absolutely true in the case of Jose and I’d like to show you some examples of that.

June 1st, 2008

Noguiera after losing every single striking exchange (Both at range and in the pocket) decides to bait a counter and level change into a single. This is where I need to bring up the lead leg of Jose and its importance. EVERYTHING comes from his lead leg, Specifically its pivot. More on this later but for now watch how Jose’s first reaction is to pivot on that leg. He than frames on the head of Noguiera, Fully turns and pushes his head down and away while pulling his leg out of danger. This is affectionately called a limp leg. This is to me the most important reason he has the ridiculous td defense stats that he has.

August 20th, 2022

But what if hes against the fence? What if you attempt a double instead of a single? Jose got something for your ass too. Here Merab has pushed Jose to the fence and dived on a double. Jose breaks the grip with his right hand and creates a wide base that stops the takedown. Obviously the threat is still there as Merab could come up and get a body lock, Strike then drop back down for the double (Which is insanely common in modern mma). Jose opts to stall position by pushing on the left bicep of Merab and getting an Overhook on his right arm. Merab cannot attack, Cant drop back down, Cant really disengage either. All you can do is wait to be broken up.

October 8th, 2011

Another great example of the limp leg in the open mat here. Kenny actually goes for the double here reaching for the far leg trying to clasp his hands. Mid way through he realizes this isnt possible due to how much space Jose made from framing off. He then opts to settle for the single leg & just like in the first clip, Leg comes right out of the grip.

I alluded to Jose’s striking prowess & I cannot possibly do that justice with measly gifs and explanations. You just need to watch him to truly appreciate him. That being said I am going to display some of my favorite aspects of Jose’s boxing. Those that know me, Know thats my first love & This paragraph is by far the most fun for me to write about so enjoy…

August 7th, 2021

Jose has an uncanny ability to react to things. At times this can be a detriment when fighting Volume punchers that can dial up the pace exponentially that causes him to burn energy reacting to every feint (think Holloway & Font). However Its still exceptional and still benefits him against most opponents. Theres a ton of examples of this in Jose’s career but I chose this because… Its just rlly cool lol. Jose is ass to fence and doesnt want to be. He wants to pivot off that lead leg and move to his left. He obviously cannot do this naked against a solid boxer in Pedro Munhoz, So he masks this by feinting a inside dip with his head and a “Slappy, Range finding 3”. Feints that to draw a reaction which Pedro gives, Moves out of pocket to be safe and create space to emulate the space needed for a body jab, Throws a rather obvious body jab feint to reinforce “Im about to do some shit” which does not get a reaction as intended, Then throws the same slappy/posting/masking 3 then commits to the pivot & rolls with the counter hook that he anticipated. Kind of mind bending to deal with. Much is spoke about the athleticism of Jose but not enough credit is given to him in regards to “Fight IQ”. Master of anticipation.

October 25th, 2014

The Jab is the most important strike in combat sports. Bar none. Whether thats mma, Boxing, Muay thai, Whatever. Its the Jab. A good jab is multi facteted and used for multiple reasons which is something Ive wrote about ad nauseam. A good jab is many tools, A hammer, A ruler, A nail to connect things etc… In this clip Jose demonstrates his appreciation for personal space & The importance of intra personal boundaries. Chad Mendes decides his wants & needs are important enough to invalidate those boundaries of Jose & is met with swift repercussions in the form of a 4 oz Glove. In all seriousness, Jose’s Jab is so important to his game because he prefers to operate at a relatively far space. This will change throughout the fight but if he is not able to dictate the range he does not operate with the same “Comfortablity”. Hence a superb jab to keep his opponents at bay and not diving on his legs against the fence. (Cough, Cough, Merab)

August 7th, 2021

As I just mentioned a Jab is also the nail that both starts, & Connects combinations. In this clip Jose is backed to the fence but instead of opting to Jab his way out, Or simply use his pivot trick that I mentioned earlier, He fights his way into some space. Double Jab-4-Hard 3- 3 to mask his pivot & escape. I love analogies and this clip reminds me alot of an evacuation to a helicopter in a old Military Movie. Combat fire with fire to properly disembark. Again so much of Jose’s game is him at a range where he feels comfortable to enact his gameplan. For a very long time he would fold under pressure masked with immense volume punching. This was obviously towards the end of his career and its worth showing his evolution from a “Athletic power striker” to “Crafty Vet that still has crazy athleticism”

February 2nd, 2013

Reaction & anticipation. The two adjectives that describe Jose best in my opinion. On top of a fantastic Jab, Jose has an equally good right hand particularly with the cross counter. A cross counter is basically just what the name entails, A counter of a punch with a cross. In this clip Frankie does his classic outside slip into 3 punch flurry while moving in quickly. You will notice Jose intends to move to his right to circle away from the fence, He moves back and sees Frankie feinting a jab. 2 over the top. Simple precise & clean. A bit ironic considering what Conor did to Jose in their fight.

February 2nd, 2019

Remember when I spoke about that lead leg dictating his game? Here is a great example. Jose goes 2-3 but obviously puts the majority of the “umph” into the 3. The 2 is essentially only there to range find and load into his left hip. Look at his kneecap at the end of the 2. Its facing completely to the left! His entire body turns into the hook which eventually leads to the final flurry and finish. I always look for fighters to do the “Simple Stuff” at the highest levels. I love creativity and breaking from norms but fundamentals are fundamentals and I love this clip so much because Yes Jose does completely unload and commit fully to the hook but look where his right hand is at the end of the exchange. Right there defending his chin like its supposed to be. Akin to old man Tim Duncan giving young Lebron a run for his money. I digress….

July 28th, 2018

Before I breakdown this clip I want to talk about how important this fight was to the career of Jose Aldo. He had just been beaten by Max Holloway twice in a row in dramatic fashion. People were willing to write off the Conor loss as a bit “Flukey” but there was no denying those losses to Max. The once 10 year unbeaten pfp#1 looked like a human being with a glaring flaw in his game. Its a fair guess to assume Jose had not been that low in his career to that point. He had to come out and beat a stylistic layup in Jeremy Stephens, And of course he did what all the greats do in any sport… They did what they had to do with the most possible pressure on them. Ok sentiment aside. More of that lead leg pivot action here. Raises the guard of Jeremy by throwing a rear hook at his shoulder & TA-DA all that weight is loaded on his left hip, He then fires his fist so hard up and to the right that he literally jumps. It grazes the liver which many would argue is worse then the “thud”. I personally wouldnt want Jose to hit me with either but Jeremy was not allowed that luxury…

The most discussed and revered part of Jose’s game is his leg kicks. Bar none they are by far the most destructive leg kicks I’ve seen in mma besides possibly Edson Barboza. We will do some highlighting here but this is really where I reward you for reading this far with some insane highlights. Lets have some fun shall we?

April 24th, 2010

This in many ways is Jose’s most famous performance. Destroying Uriahs legs so badly we still talk about it over a decade later (Yeah that date is accurate, Do you feel old yet?). This part of the fight is after the bulk of the kicks landed but I like this one because you can see Uriah just give in. Stops fighting in his native orthodox because the pain is just too great. Hes trying his best to soldier through to the decision and in fairness to him he did. Look at his face, Look at both of his hands going down to try to meet the kick. Anything to stop the gruelling pain of Braziallan soccer kicks. Eeeesh

October 8th, 2011

This fight is definitely on the short list of my favorite performances. This combo though is just insane. I love anything that uses kicks to get opponents off balance and in place for more strikes but this is crazy. Inside leg kick knocks Kenny off balance and lines his head up on the center line. He is unable to fight the human instinct of using our arms as counter balances to get balanced and eats a 3-2 at point blank range. I mean I don’t know what you want me to tell you reader, Hes just the best I’ve ever seen and its mainly for shit like this.

July 11th, 2020

In his final title fight of his career Jose fought a demon in prime Petr Yan. This was an amazing fight from Jose…Until it wasnt. That being said theres a couple things worth noting. I put the dates in the clips for a reason. This fight took place a decade after the Faber fight and you can see how much raw power a then 34 year old Jose Aldo. “Maior de todos os tempos”

This was in many ways a love letter to the career of Jose Aldo. A man who has inspired an entire generation of combat sports fans. On top of that he has inspired me since I was a boy. I told you at the beginning of this article that I wouldn’t try to change your mind on the “GOAT debate”, I meant that. However I do sincerely hope you have adopted either a new or greater appreciation for Jose. The oldest clip on this article is 15 years old and the most recent is less than a year. To me thats one of the most impressive stats in the history of MMA. So here’s to you Jose, Please accept your flowers Mr. Cabra

Authors Note:

I hope you guys enjoyed this half as much as I enjoyed getting an excuse to rematch Jose’s career. There was many times I found myself transported back to when I watched his fights live. In many ways I’ve grown up alongside the maturity of his career. Having started watching the sport as a boy just before his WEC debut up until its finale, I have to say that I am not upset its over… Im just glad I got to be apart of it in my own small way. That being said thank you for your time I hope you enjoyed and above all else…

“I hope you learned a thing or two about a thing or two”

Your’s Truly,

Smoke