Why Jose Aldo, one of the UFC’s greatest fighters, isn’t a star
Chad Mendes has complained, seemingly with plenty of justification, that Jose Aldo blows off, or at the very best, puts little effort into his promotional efforts.
Mendes meets Aldo for the featherweight title on Saturday in the main event of UFC 179 in Rio de Janeiro, a rematch of a bout on Jan. 14, 2012, that Aldo won by flying knee.
The stoic, stern Aldo hasn't lost in nearly nine years and is ranked No. 2 on the UFC's official pound-for-pound ratings.
He's no Ronda Rousey, though, when it comes to selling himself, his bouts or his sport.
Fighters make more money by selling themselves outside the ring, but that hasn't seemed to motivate Aldo to become a salesman.
He routinely seems disinterested during promotional efforts and rarely goes the extra mile to sell his bout.
"My job is to fight and to be as prepared as I can to fight the best in the world," Aldo said.
Well, that's part of his job. Fighting is vastly different business-wise from team sports, particularly those that have regular schedules. Fans who buy tickets for a Los Angeles Angels game understand that the manager may give superstar Mike Trout a night off every now and then. They want to see Trout, of course, but the overall draw is Major League Baseball.
Promotion is a major part of a fighter's job, and fans often come to see a particular fighter, or a specific fight.
The result is that while many knowledgeable people believe Aldo may in fact be the finest fighter in the world, he's way down the list in terms of notoriety.
Aldo occasionally makes comments to Brazilian media that he feels underpaid, a common refrain from Brazilian fighters since the beginning of the UFC.
Marcos Rua held out for more money at UFC 7 in 1995, and didn't sign his contract to fight until quite literally a minute before he walked down the aisle and stepped into the cage.
Aldo told Ivan Raupp of Combate.com that "the company is very large and athletes devalued."
Aldo, though, is content to let his fighting sell him. He's brilliant, and he's made some fans who became awed by watching him.
He's fought for Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC, and the now-defunct World Extreme Cagefighting, since June 1, 2008. He's gone 14-0 with nine finishes, many of them of the highlight-reel variety.
He began fighting at the championship level a year after joining the company. He destroyed his first four opponents in the WEC – Alexandre Franca Nogueira, Jonathan Brookins, Rolando Perez and Chris Mickle – to land a key bout against Cub Swanson.
In the title eliminator, Aldo was brutally efficient, knocking out Swanson with a double flying knee and a couple of hard strikes.
It took just eight seconds.
He sent a message that day that was heard clearly by featherweights around the world: There was no more lethal, dangerous or more gifted man at 145 pounds than Jose Aldo.
He won the title in his next outing by stopping Mike Brown and has held it since. When the WEC folded, he was given the UFC belt and continued on as the 145-pound champion.
He's still lapping the field and is better than a 2-1 favorite to defeat Mendes a second time and retain his crown.
But somehow, the bloom seems to have fallen off. Five of his eight title defenses have gone to decision. Aldo hasn't seemed fully comfortable, or happy.
Featherweight contender Conor McGregor blasted him and said he didn't think Aldo was working hard to improve anymore.
Aldo dismissed that kind of talk and said his goal is always to be better.
"I hear criticism a lot, but it goes with the position," Aldo said. "But I take it seriously. If I hear it, I study it and if it is correct, I try to find a way to fix it. I want to constantly be evolving and improving as a fighter. I think I'm better now than I was."
To be fair to Aldo, when a fighter reaches the championship level, the finish rate normally goes down.
When Aldo finished Brown to win the title, he was 16-1 and had a finish rate of 82.4 percent (14 finishes in 17 fights).
In his eight title defenses, Aldo’s finish rate is 62.5 percent, and four of his last six fights have gone the distance.
There is an anticipation that surrounds title defenses of champions such as Rousey, Jon Jones and former champion Anderson Silva that simply doesn't exist for Aldo.
And that goes back to his lack of interest in promoting himself or his fights.
He's a guy who would benefit from fighting on Fox to get as much exposure as possible, because Aldo is firmly a lunch-pail guy: He's going to go to work, do his job and go home, minding his business.
If he defeats Mendes and retains the belt, the best way to get him to the next level might be to put his next bout on broadcast television where the world can see his greatness for free.
It's a shame a guy so good is so underappreciated.
The blame, though, rests almost totally on Aldo's shoulders. He's got way more than enough ability to be a big star. Whether he wants to be one is up to him.
