JOSE ALDO AND WHY HE WILL BE THE GREATEST EVER

Jose Aldo has completely cleaned out the UFC's Featherweight division with his brand of explosive, highlight reel striking and blazing speed. He could arguably be the UFC's most well rounded fighter, with an amazing blend of elite striking, dominant wrestling defense and a great ground game. It's these attributes that have allowed Jose Aldo to simply plow the competition, including legends like Urijah Faber & Kenny Florian, as well as elite fighters Mark Hominick and Chad Mendes.

Some may attribute this dominance to a weak division but the division only looks weaker because of the dominance at the top, much like the Middleweight division. Even then, it's common opinion that Jose Aldo would dominate the Lightweight division as well, with only Benson Henderson posing problems. He's one of the only fighters who could go up a weight class and beat all of the fighters with ease (excluding the champions of course), along with GSP, Frankie Edgar and Joseph Benavidez.

EDIT: I forgot about mentioning his athleticism, the man has natural power and natural speed that cannot be taught. His technique is near perfection and he's very accurate. The only weakness he's ever shown is his cardio, and that is something that he could change.

Did I mention that he's only 25? Aldo has yet to reach his prime and he's already one of the most dominant fighters in MMA history, and he's only going to get better.

Your thoughts?

* Edited at 03.26.2012, 9:06 PM ET *

This needs to be retired as the greatest thread in Tapology history!!!!!

god bless.

He's great.  Though I'm concerned about his health and longevity, already having back problems. You say he's only going to get better, but you never know.  As for 155, it will probably be in his future and would provide a range of interesting fights.

I'm not worried, everyone gets injuries. It's a hard sport after all.

And he SHOULD get better, he's way too athletic not to.

I think by the time Jose Aldo retires he will be a household name ... Hes already done some great things, only being 25 .. Gives him many more years to kick some ass.

He is great no doubt
I think he will go down with a similar career as Tito Ortiz or Chuck Liddell, as in he will be dominant for a long time but when he loses. He wont get the title back and will simply be a big name and a mid level fighter and will then eventually retire as a legend.
But i dont think he will be considered the greatest ever

* Edited at 03.26.2012, 11:41 PM ET *

With Aldo stating intentions to move up in weightclass, we might be witnessing something amazing in the next few years if he ultimately decides to do it. I honestly think he wants Frankie Edgar bad after Edgar refused to go down and fight him.

I've believed Aldo has the best mix of talent, youth, natural athleticism, and skill in MMA for a while. I'm hoping that he lives up to the potential he has. I can't wait for him to move up. I've seen too many threads on other sites talking about how he's overrated and if he ever fought so-called "good fighters" he would lose. I would like nothing more than for my 2nd favorite fighter to become one of the greatest fighters ever.

@zarog I don't hype fighters much, but Aldo is one of the most well rounded fighters in MMA. The TDD he displayed against Mendes (2nd in the nation in wrestling his senior year of college) was beautiful. I think he is going to be one of those fighters everyone fears to fight because he's getting to the point of being were GSP was when he was wrecking people left and right (Hughes/Penn/Fitch/etc).

While I might be WAY off, I really don't see much flaws in Aldo's game now since he showed how well he absorbs information and he seems to finally getting back into his stride after his back injury/Hominick debacle.

@wish He's already at that point. The UFC really can't find a fighter willing to fight him right now.

Now all Aldo needs to do is hook up with Palhares and learn those leg locks then we might see a person **** their pants for the first time at weigh ins.

@wish That made me LOL.

Aldo is gonna headline UFC 149 but he is without opponent as yet. I hope it's Hioki but I think Aldo is gonna win regardless who he's fighting cause I agree with OP 100%...

I honestly don't care who it is. He is going to smash anyone at Featherweight.

He is awesome, one of the best the sport has ever had no doubt, but I think him and everyone else are always defeatable.

@Brad Everyone's beatable, but I'm not really sure what the blueprint is to beat Aldo. His striking is second only to Anderson's, and his TDD has been incredible. He avoided all 7 attempts from Mendes, 18 of 19 from Florian, all 9 attempts from Faber, all 4 Mike Brown attempts, and 2 of 3 from Brookins. He took shots from Gamburyan, Brown, Faber, and Hominick and never appeared to be in any danger of being finished, so I assume his chin isn't bad. While we never see his BJJ on display, he did take 3rd in 2001 at FW in the Blue Belt competition in the ibjjf competition. (On a side note, does anyone know if he has any other credentials than his 3rd place finish and a black bet under Pederneiras? I can't seem to find any others.) Like I said, I just don't see the hole in his game to exploit, but I'm sure if he moves up to LW and he does have a hole in his game, it will be exposed by somebody in the division.

The fact that he is only 25, and has nearly cleaned out his current division, is pretty damn frightening. I think he would beat Edgar too.

* Edited at 03.27.2012, 1:44 PM ET *

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krsr3PN_yg4&feature=related

* Edited at 03.29.2012, 12:25 PM ET *

The "Greatest Ever" thing in the title was just to grab attention. But I do think he will retire a legend, he's just too good not to.

i think barao will end up with a better career.