Former UFC and WEC featherweight champion Jose Aldo will join the luminaries in the UFC Hall of Fame after the UFC announced the Brazilian's imminent induction during UFC 283 in his home town of Rio.
Aldo will officially be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame during the 2023 ceremony, which will take place in Las Vegas during UFC International Fight Week in July. The event will be streamed live on UFC Fight Pass.
"Jose Aldo is the greatest featherweight of all time," said UFC president Dana White.
"From WEC to UFC, Jose helped us build the sport of MMA and UFC as a brand, as well as change the perception of the smaller weight classes and what they could accomplish inside the Octagon.
"It will be an honor to induct him into the UFC Hall of Fame this summer."
As a fighter who turned pro on or after November 17, 2000, Aldo will join the Modern Wing of the Hall of Fame, where he'll join previous inductees Forrest Griffin (2013), BJ Penn (2015), Urijah Faber (2017), Ronda Rousey (2018), Michael Bisping (2019), Rashad Evans (2019), Georges St-Pierre (2020), Khabib Nurmagomedov (2022), and Daniel Cormier (2022).
Aldo's stellar MMA career saw him capture the WEC featherweight title in November 2009 with victory over Mike Brown at WEC 44. He went on to defend that title twice before the featherweight division was brought under the UFC banner, with Aldo continuing his reign as the UFC champion.
Seven UFC title defenses followed before an infamous 13-second defeat to Conor McGregor. But Aldo bounced back to capture the interim featherweight title, which was later promoted to the full version of the title.
During his career, Aldo has faced a who's who of lighter-weight legends, including Brown, McGregor, Faber, Cub Swanson, Kenny Florian, Chad Mendes, Frankie Edgar, Chan Sung Jung, Max Holloway, Petr Yan and more.
Aldo will enter the UFC Hall of Fame with a host of records to his name, including:
- Most wins in UFC / WEC featherweight history – 18
- Most title fight wins in UFC / WEC featherweight history – 11
- Most knockouts in UFC / WEC featherweight history – 11
- Most finishes in UFC / WEC featherweight history – 11
- Most consecutive wins in WEC history – 8
- Youngest champion in WEC history – 23 years old
- Highest takedown defense percentage in UFC / WEC featherweight history – 92.6%
- Tied for second-fastest knockout in UFC / WEC featherweight history – 0:08 seconds
- Tied for third-most knockdowns in UFC / WEC featherweight history – 9
