Jose Aldo opens up about UFC 237 loss: ‘I've never fought so badly in my life’

MMAfighting.com

Jose Aldo lost a decision for the first time of his professional MMA career at Saturday night’s UFC 237, and he’s upset with his own performance.

Aldo entered the event coming off back-to-back knockout victories over Jeremy Stephens and Renato Moicano, returning to the winning column following stoppage defeats to 145-pound champion Max Holloway, but failed to get the streak going against Alexander Volkanovski.

The former UFC and WEC featherweight kingpin did not attend the post-fight press conference at the Jeunesse Arena, but released a statement on his social media on Monday.

In an Instagram post, Aldo thanked everyone who cheered for him and thanked his coaches for putting him in his best shape for UFC 237. However, he criticized his own performance.

“But I’ve never fought so badly in my life,” Aldo wrote. “No excuses because that’s not who I am, but I know what I can do and I know my talent, and I can’t do that. Not taking the merits away from my opponent, he did his fight, but I’m upset with myself, and I transfer (all the blame) to myself.”

Aldo currently has one fight left in his contract with the UFC. Prior to UFC 237, Aldo’s plan was to be part of the promotion’s upcoming event in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Nov. 16, but that’s up in the air following his decision loss in Rio de Janeiro.