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I have respect for him, his whole team, his family. He hit me a few times but I him a lot more. "I think every fight is the toughest fight of my career," Aldo said. Ultimately, judges sitting cageside rendered unanimous 49-46 scores for the champion. Both fighters scored knockdowns in the opening round and both had opportunities to finish the fight. The five-round bout, a rematch of a championship tilt in January 2012, was an instant candidate for Fight of the Year. The UFC featherweight champion recorded his seventh title defense on Saturday, defeating Chad Mendes via unanimous decision at UFC 179 at Maracanazinho Gymnasium in Rio de Janeiro Brazil. As long as I fight for myself, I will stay champion. - Facing arguably the toughest challenge of his entire career, Jose Aldo emerged the same way he had his previous 17 fights - victorious. If I fight for it one day, it’s time to stop.

I represented not only my team, but the entire country tonight. We’re friends, we’re teammates, but it’s a fight. Team Alpha male rivalry, particularly following the loss of Renan Barao to T.J. If we keep fighting, our pockets will be full."Īldo also downplayed talk about a Nova Uniao vs. He has a huge potential and we might meet again in the future. Him losing again doesn’t mean he doesn’t work anymore. He’s a great athlete and will always be fighting at the highest level. "I believe Chad won a lot with this fight. "We’ve seen Frankie fighting Gray Maynard a third time, so I think it happens," said Aldo. With the fight over, Aldo real, better side returned. The Nova Uniao trained Aldo made a conscious decision with his coach Andre Pederneiras to engage in the pre fight bickering and sputtering that fans respond so quickly to. He’s got great potential, and in the future, we could meet again, and I hope that we have another great fight.” “It’s not (like) because he lost tonight … he’s no good anymore. He’s always going to be fighting in this weight class, right on top. “It definitely can happen,” Aldo told John Morgan for MMAjunkie via a translator. “I was rushing to get my wits back, but holy s-, that was fun.” "I respect everybody, but you have to kill me to defeat me in front of this crowd."Īnd let's give Mendes the last word, as he was after all the man who got fouled. "With this sold out arena singing and chanting, I feel I’m unbeatable," said Aldo. The rest of the world can make do with the current ones in use.Īnd the emotion of the Brazilian crowd lends power to the Brazilian fighters, as demonstrated by the remarkable win rate for hometown fighters. It's all about the 2 seconds I could not even hear!"īurt Watson needs to get a louder bell for Brazil. Apparently that makes me the worst in the world. "At times tonight, I could not even hear ten second warnings," tweeted Goddard. Referee Marc Goddard confirmed that it was not possible to hear.
Aldo vs mendes 2 mma decisions tv#
My phone was blowing up from people were going crazy that were watching on TV saying how dirty that was that he got hit with two punches after, but it was so loud in this arena you couldn't hear anything." But anybody that knows that was here live, you couldn't hear it. People were going crazy that watched it on TV. UFC president Dana White appeared on UFC Tonight and told Ariel Helwani what happened. I was about to run into the crowd, but I’m glad I didn’t. "When I connected the punches and the referee stepped in, I thought it was over. "When the round was over, I thought the fight was over," said Aldo as transcribed by Guilherme Cruz for MMAFighting. The main card aired on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.įor complete coverage of UFC 179, check out the UFC Events section of the site.
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UFC 179 took place at Maracanazinho Gymnasium in Rio de Janeiro. Maldonado (22-7 MMA, 5-4 UFC) had a rough first round against Hans Stringer (22-6-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) but he battled back in a big way in the second round and was able to get a TKO finish.īurns (9-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) stayed unbeaten when he latched on to an armbar late in the first round and forced Christos Giagos (10-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) to tap with just three seconds left before the bell. But it was Aldo who retained his featherweight title by unanimous decision. UFC officials announced the winners at the night’s post-event news conference, which MMAjunkie attended.Īldo (25-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) and Mendes (16-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) spent 25 minutes beating each other up in the main event, with both fighters landing some significant blows. RIO DE JANEIRO – Jose Aldo, Chad Mendes, Fabio Maldonado and Gilbert Burns each earned $50,000 bonuses for their performances at Saturday’s UFC 179 event.Īldo and Mendes earned “Fight of the Night” honors, while Maldonado and Burns each won “Performance of the Night” bonuses.
