"I felt like my leg exploded" - Pre-UFC era rival recalls how Jose Aldo's kicks left him unable to walk

Jose Aldo is a well-established legend in the UFC and one of his opponents during the earlier part of the Brazilian fighter's ascendancy in the sport vividly recalls their clash.

Appearing on a recent episode of Bowks Talking Bouts, Shoji Maruyama touched on several highlights of a storied MMA career. This combat sports journey has seen him fight for DEEP, Pancrase, and Rizin nowadays. In a career that covers nearly forty professional fights, one of Maruyama's most intriguing matchups took place against Jose Aldo in July 2007.

When recollecting what happened during that clash that saw him go the distance in a losing effort against a pre-WEC Aldo at Pancrase 179, Maruyama said:

"Nobody knew about him [Aldo]. I still remember to this day, he threw a leg kick at me in the first round and I felt like my leg exploded. Throughout my career even in K1 kickboxers, MMA, to this day, I think he's the hardest kicker ever and I truly believe that even a K1 fighter cannot compare with his kicks. With that said, I remember I wasn't able to walk after the fight."

"So that's a very good memory of mine looking back at that fight. Seeing Aldo still fighting in the UFC on the frontlines at the highest level, it's very inspiring. He's still fighting, I'm still fighting, and I'm kind of dreaming maybe some time, somewhere in a crazy world where maybe I get to fight him again."

Check out Maruyama's account of his Aldo bout years ago [at the 20:33 mark] below

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Jose Aldo and the multitude of recent UFC callouts toward him

Jose Aldo is a former multi-time UFC champion and former UFC bantamweight title challenger which makes him a target to many hungry, young contenders wanting a statement win on their resume.

Davey Grant recently called out the 38-year-old following his UFC Tampa win over Ramon Taveras. Grant described the Aldo clash as a dream matchup but this was not the only callout for the mixed martial arts legend at the final UFC offering of 2024. Daniel Marcos also put Jose Aldo in his crosshairs at the UFC Tampa post-event press conference following his win over Adrian Yanez.

The Brazilian also received callouts in the final quarter of 2024 by such names as Marcus McGhee, Charles Jourdain, and Farid Basharat after their respective victories were notched. Incredibly, Aldo is still such a prominent, active figure in the sport considering he is now over twenty years into his professional mixed martial arts run.