Jose Aldo praises referee for his "excellent job", despite controversial stoppage at UFC 251

Jose Aldo suffered a 5th round stoppage loss at UFC 251 against Petr Yan, who is now the undisputed UFC bantamweight champion of the world. The Brazilian star had success early with his leg kicks, but Yan proved to be too much in the later rounds to claim the vacant bantamweight title on July 11.

Unfortunately, Jose Aldo was stuck in Abu Dhabi for an extra week after his failed bid to claim the 135 lbs gold.

One of the biggest controversies about the fight was the stoppage. Stats show Yan landed 62 of his 68 significant strikes in the 5th round to Jose Aldo's count of one strike. Checkout the stoppage below.

RUSSIA HAS A NEW CHAMPION! 🏆 @PetrYanUFC stops Aldo in the fifth!#UFC251 | #InAbuDhabi | @VisitAbuDhabi pic.twitter.com/uITcE8ijba

— UFC (@ufc) July 12, 2020

After returning home to Rio de Janeiro and preparing himself to resume training, Jose Aldo spoke with MMA Fighting about his view on the stoppage.

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Many experts and fellow fighters on the UFC roster criticized the ref heavily as they thought the fight should have been stopped earlier and Jose Aldo shouldn't have taken unnecessary punishment.

ENOUGH. What the heck. He’s turtled up.

— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) July 12, 2020

UFC president Dana White came out and said: “Looks like we’ve got to tighten up our refs and judges here on Fight Island.”

Referee Leon Roberts gave Aldo plenty of chances to recover and was criticized by many for allowing the fight to continue, but the ex-champ agreed with the official’s performance.

"The referee was great, man – excellent work by the referee, It’s hard to think about stopping a title fight. If he stopped it early, everyone would talk about it. I wasn’t out at any moment. I went down and was trying to recover. Everyone who gets in there, or those who have been knocked down before, knows how the body reacts. You get slower, that’s a fact. Fighters who say it should have been stopped earlier are just kidding themselves. You get slower, you try to move, but it’s completely different." said Aldo.

The former featherweight king hasn’t re-watched his UFC 251 bout with Yan. He said he rarely watches his fights, or any other because “it’s in the past and can’t be changed.” But his coaches know what needs to be fixed.

Despite his recent loss the former pound for pound #1 who turns 34 in September, has no plans of slowing down anytime soon. But with 3 back to back losses for the first time in his career and being 0-2 in bantamweight Jose Aldo is in desperate need of a win next time he steps inside the octagon.

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Jose Aldo was hoping to fight quickly again even if he had won at UFC 251 and his plan hasn't changed much recently. The former WEC and UFC featherweight champion is looking to be back in the gym next week and hoping to fight again before the end of the year and then start 2021 on a better note.

"I’m an athlete, I’m a fighter. This is what I’ve chosen for my life. As long as I have this hunger to train and learn, to get out of my comfort zone, brother, I want to fight. That’s the goal. I’ll get back to training, do what ‘Dede’ and I are planning, and ask Dana (White) for a fight." said Aldo.

When asked about a potential opponent in his next fight Jose Aldo said he wants someone top-ranked or a fellow legend.

"This new generation keeps picking fights, but I train to fight anyone,” he said. “If you want to be a champion you have to fight the champion or the worst guy in the division, it doesn’t matter. If you want to be the champion, you have to fight everyone.”