5 former UFC champions who could retire in 2022
The UFC has been home to some great champions over the years, but naturally, even the best fighters get old and eventually have to hang up their gloves.
There are a number of former UFC champions still on the promotion’s roster, but could any of them call time on their MMA careers in 2022? It seems highly likely.
While it’s unlikely that any of them will cause the impact former UFC lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov did when he retired in 2020, whenever a former UFC titleholder steps away, it’s big news.
29-0 it is.
He is 💯 officially retired. It was incredible to watch you work @TeamKhabib thank you for EVERYTHING and enjoy whatever is next my friend. https://t.co/QeoSP12zw2
With that in mind, here are five former UFC champions who could retire in 2022.
#5. Jose Aldo – former UFC featherweight champion
It seems crazy to suggest that Jose Aldo, who is set to headline this weekend’s UFC Fight Night card against the dangerous Rob Font, might end up retiring before 2022 is out. However, it isn’t as unlikely as you might think.
Sure, if Aldo defeats Font this weekend, he could well end up competing at the top of the UFC bantamweight division again. There’s even a slight chance he could capture an unlikely title shot next year, depending on whether or not Petr Yan holds the title.
Taking a walk through memory lane with @JoseAldoJunior 🇧🇷
[ #UFCVegas44 | Dec 4 | Prelims 7𝙥𝙢𝙀𝙏 | Main Card 10𝙥𝙢𝙀𝙏 | Live on #ESPN ] https://t.co/YrSPCUUQzj
However, should the Brazilian legend lose to Font, particularly if he ends up being stopped, then the narrative would change entirely.
Aldo is, of course, 35 years old and, more to the point, he’s been fighting at the top for a long time. He made his UFC debut just over a decade ago, but his rise to fame in WEC came way before that. His actual MMA debut came back in 2004.
While his incredible skills meant that he didn’t take a lot of damage in the early stages of his career, that’s begun to change in recent years. Aldo suffered a horrific beating at the hands of Yan in 2020, for instance, and prior to that he’d also suffered nasty knockout defeats at the hands of Max Holloway and Conor McGregor.
While the Brazilian can still clearly beat lower-level fighters, Pedro Munhoz and Marlon Vera, for instance, if he can’t compete at the top level, then he may decide to walk away next year for the good of his health.
In Aldo’s eyes, he most likely has nothing left to prove inside the UFC’s octagon and in that sense, he’s absolutely correct.