5 reasons why José Aldo deserves to be recognized as an MMA G.O.A.T.

#4. Revolutionized low kicks

There is a reason José Aldo's low kicks landed with great success despite the evolution of MMA striking throughout his career.

The Brazilian's reputation as a devastating kicker was well-known. Back when he first faced Urijah Faber, Aldo brutalized the Team Alpha Male founder's legs with thunderous low kicks. Years later, no one had unearthed the means to stop his low kicks despite so much tape on it.

The UFC featherweight legend did two things to stop his opponents from checking his low kicks. First, Aldo ensured that he didn't telegraph his kicks like other prolific low kickers would.

Often-times, hard low kickers step into kicks, using the momentum of the step itself to generate significant power. Unfortunately, stepping in to low kick telegraphs the kick.

Fighters learned to predict low kicks by waiting for the step forward from their opponents whenever they were in kicking range.

Instead of stepping forward, Aldo turned his hips into low kicks, using the torque generated to produce power in his kicks. Without stepping forward, the Brazilian rendered his low kicks much harder to anticipate.

Lastly, José Aldo typically threw low kicks after boxing combinations to completely eliminate the possibility of having his kicks checked.

The logic is simple. Aldo was a powerful boxer, so his punches demanded respect. Whenever he'd throw combinations, he did so with the intention of backing up his foes.

Once his opponent retreated, Aldo threw low kicks to catch them as they're back-stepping because it's difficult and defensively risky to raise and turn one's leg to check a kick while stepping backwards. If Aldo immediately threw a punch over the top, he'd catch his opponent on one leg for an easy knockdown.

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#3. José Aldo defied the MMA Meta

Having been active since 2004, José Aldo has seen the sport of mixed martial arts evolve with the times. At different points in its history, MMA has been engulfed in specific conventions that defined an era.

At present, calf kicks make up the current striking meta of MMA, just as wall-walking has become the current defensive wrestling meta. Regardless of the era he's existed in, Aldo has defied the conventions of the time to great success.

Despite the presence of calf kicks, Aldo was nearly impossible to calf kick. While countless fighters struggled to defend against calf kicks, the Brazilian's bout against Pedro Munhoz was a masterclass on how to neutralize the technique.

Standard low kicks are defended by raising one's leg and turning it towards an incoming kick in order to block the lower and thinner part of the kicking leg's shin with the upper and thicker part of the defending leg.

How Aldo defended himself against calf kicks varied. One of his methods involved simply retracting his heel to the back of his thigh so that his foe's calf kick would miss his leg entirely and simply swing through empty space, leaving them terribly out of position.

With only one foot on the ground, Aldo's opponent would be in prime position to be knocked down by a punch over the top.

Another approach the former champion used involved faking the jab. The calf kick evolved as a counter to the jab because a good jab entails a fighter to step forwards. Doing so extends the fighter's stance and overexposes the lead leg to low kicks.

So Aldo drew out calf kicks by faking the jab, retracting his leg and countering his foe with a punch over the top. This enabled José Aldo to remain a dedicated boxer despite everyone else's struggles to box effectively in the era of calf kicks. After missing a few calf kicks and getting countered, his opponents became timid and stopped kicking him altogether.

Similarly, when everyone was using wrestling to make strikers pay for squaring their hips, José Aldo implemented his legendary takedown defense to nullify everyone's wrestling, allowing him to throw punches with power.