"Both of us came out really hurt"- Jose Aldo details his second fight with Chad Mendes, calling it the toughest fight of his career
Jose Aldo has had a lengthy career and battled the best of the best at featherweight and bantamweight. While every fight has been a challenge, Aldo recently declared the toughest fight of his career to be his second bout against Chad Mendes.
In an interview with BT Sport leading up to his UFC 278 fight against Merab Dvalishvili, Aldo was asked if a particular fight stood out as the most difficult. He said:
"Regularly, commonly, I'd say all 38 of them because they make me sacrifice, they make me work hard, they make me keep going. But if I was going to actually go through fights and say who would be the toughest one I would say Chad Mendes in my second fight in Rio because both of us came out really hurt from that fight and I would say that one was the toughest."
Aldo fought Mendes for the first time in 2012, knocking him out with a flying knee 4:59 into the fight. Their second bout was two years later in October 2014, and the two men went to war for the full five rounds.
While Aldo won with 49-46x3 scores from the judges, it was a thrilling affair that saw Mendes drop Aldo in the first round and hurt him badly in the third. The bout ended up being named Fight of the Year by many major sports outlets.
Watch Jose Aldo discuss his toughest fight below:
Jose Aldo would consider retirement if he can't beat Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 278
Jose Aldo has been fighting since 2004 and was a dominant featherweight champion for six years between 2009 and 2015. At 35 years old, he still has aspirations to win another belt.
In a recent interview with ESPN, 'Scarface' said if he loses against Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 278 and falls out of title contention, he may retire.
"I really don't think that's going to happen [losing to Dvalishvili]. It's not like if something happens, I would take up another contract, get millions out there. I don't want to put my body through this. I don't want to go all through all the sacrifice at one point, because this has been planned. So, we would go to sit down to see how would it be the best way to leave the fighting game, but it would not involve me extending my career much longer."
Jose Aldo is currently on a three-fight win streak with victories over Marlon Vera, Pedro Munhoz, and Rob Font. In his mind, he should have been the one to fight Aljamain Sterling at UFC 280 instead of T.J. Dillashaw. While no promises have been made from the UFC, it would be hard to deny a legend like Aldo another title shot if he beats Dvalishvili in impressive fashion.
UFC 142, January 14th 2012
José Aldo defeats Chad Mendes
via KO (knee) at 4:59 of Rd1
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