Jose Aldo suffered his second loss since he returned to the Octagon last year for a final run at the highest level.
Following a matchup that was criticized by fans, Jose Aldo retired after he was beaten by Aiemann Zahabi at UFC 315 in Montreal.
It was a huge moment for the Canadian fighter with Zahabi receiving praise from Georges St-Pierre who cornered him inside the Bell Center on May 10.
Despite Aldo stating that he planned to fight at featherweight going forward following his weight issues, the legendary former champion called time on his career earlier than expected.
A fellow Brazilian and former UFC champion believes that the all-time great was pushed to make this call after being on the wrong end of controversial scorecards once again.
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Rafael dos Anjos says the judges sent Jose Aldo into an early retirement following back-to-back controversial losses
The reaction from fans on social media and the vast majority of media scores showed that most people believed that Jose Aldo deserved to win the decision at UFC 315.
Instead, Aiemann Zahabi took the unanimous victory on the scorecards to extend his winning streak to six following a great featherweight clash.
Aldo’s previous fight with Mario Bautista at UFC 307 earned a lot of the same reactions with fans being furious that the Brazilian lost a split decision.
Given that on the day before the fight, the 38-year-old was talking about making a permanent move back to 145 pounds, he clearly wasn’t always intending on retiring regardless of the result on May 10.
Former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos made reference to this in his reaction to Aldo’s retirement where he accused the judges of forcing the legend’s hand following back-to-back defeats where the scorecards dominated the conversation.
“Bad judging made one of the best fighters to ever do it retire sooner. Aldo lost two fights in a roll for bad judges. That’s too bad, something need to change. #UFC315”
Jose Aldo fans edited the UFC 315 Wikipedia page in defiant response to his loss
It was always going to be difficult to watch Jose Aldo hang up the gloves for good because the former featherweight champion is such a beloved figure.
While his legacy is already assured, having been inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2023, no one wanted to see him go out on a loss even if he produced one more great fight.
In the immediate aftermath of Aldo’s retirement, fans edited the UFC 315 Wikipedia page to give their version of events, changing the result to “robbery”.
It certainly stings that in Aldo’s final run, he suffered two decision losses where many believed that he deserved to get his hand raised.