Jose Aldo turns in vintage performance, finishes Renato Moicano via strikes

The end of a marvelous career is coming ever close for Jose Aldo. But the former featherweight champion, long regarded as one of the finest all-around fighters in mixed martial arts history, proved he’s still among the elite.

Aldo made short work of Renato Moicano, who entered their bout Saturday in Fortaleza, Brazil, with a 13-1-1 record. His only loss was a third-round submission to Brian Ortega at UFC 214 in a Fight of the Night battle.

But Moicano was never in the fight Saturday and was overwhelmed by the legendary Brazilian champion. Aldo began the closing sequence with a massive left hook and followed in quick succession that included punches and knees that left Moicano reeling before the fight was stopped 44 seconds into the second round.

Aldo, who has now won two in a row after back-to-back losses to featherweight champion Max Holloway, said going into the fight that he’d retire at the end of 2019. He said he wanted to do his final three fights in his native Brazil, and had huge crowd support Saturday in Fortaleza.

“I have to thank the people,” said Aldo, who was a slight underdog. “I came in as the underdog and nobody believed me. … You have to believe in yourself and you have to chase your dreams.”

He said he wants to fight at UFC 237, which will be May 11 in Curitiba, Brazil.

He showed Saturday he’s lost nothing off the fastball, as he raked Moicano with hard, perfectly placed shots. Prior to defeating Stevens in July, Aldo had lost back-to-back fights and three of his previous four, making some speculate he was on the decline.

But he looked like a vintage Aldo circa 2010 on Saturday, going in with the game plan to attack the body of the taller Moicano.

“I wanted to vary my shots, hit him high and hit him low,” Aldo said. “Because he was taller, I wanted to hit him in the body more.”

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