José Aldo da Silva Oliveira Júnior, known as José Aldo, is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist and professional boxer who currently competes in the Bantamweight division of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) after previously competing at Featherweight, and was the fourth and final WEC Featherweight Champion. He became the first UFC Featherweight Champion following the UFC/WEC merger. Aldo is often regarded as one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all-time, and is considered to be the greatest featherweight of all time after defending his UFC title seven times and his WEC title twice.
Aldo in 2015
Aldo (left) and Conor McGregor (right) pose for photos during the UFC 189 press conference in London
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. The first documented use of the term mixed martial arts was in a review of UFC 1 by television critic Howard Rosenberg in 1993.
Junior dos Santos vs. Shane Carwin, main event of UFC 131 in Vancouver in 2011
A Chinese martial artist preparing to throw his opponent during a lei tai contest in Ancient China.
The Pancrastinae: A statue portraying the pancratium, an event which took place in the Roman Colosseum. Even as late as the Early Middle Ages, statues were put up in Rome and other cities to honor remarkable pankratiasts. This statue, now part of the Uffizi collection, is a Roman copy of a lost Greek original, circa 3rd century BC.
Bruce Lee popularized the concept of mixed martial arts via his hybrid philosophy of Jeet Kune Do during the late 1960s to early 1970s.
