Jose Aldo: 'There’s No Fight That Will Make Me Come Back'

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On Saturday, Jose Aldo held court for family, friends and the media at Upper Arena in Rio de Janeiro in a celebration of his legendary career after announcing his retirement at UFC 315 on May 10.

Hosted by Thales Leites, the former UFC and WEC featherweight champion recalled memorable moments, listened to testimonies from those close to him and answered questions from the press. When asked by Sherdog.com if his retirement was really definitive and if any fight would make him change his mind, Aldo didn’t hesitate.

“There’s no fight that will make me come back,” he said. “I don’t want this for myself anymore. I have other goals, now much more on the personal side. I have the goal of giving lectures. I can’t say much more here. I want to study, qualify myself and do other things too. I see myself still helping my friends with the experience I have, with all the technique I learned throughout all this time. But I also have goals like making my daughter’s dream come true, making my son a soccer player, a future star.”

The Nova Uniao stalwart said he wouldn’t encourage any of his children to follow in his footsteps in MMA.

“No, on the contrary, I don’t want any of my children fighting MMA because, in addition to the pressure of being a fighter, he will be compared to me,” Aldo said. “He may even be a good fighter, but they will always want him to be at my level. They will demand too much of him.”

Andre “Dede” Pederneiras, who Aldo calls his “second father,” was responsible for two of the most emotional moments of the ceremony that celebrated his protege’s career. The first occured when he was called to sit next to Aldo at the beginning of the ceremony. Pederneiras, who was moved to tears, had to compose himself before starting his farewell speech.

“We are here to end a successful career that all of Brazil knows, that the whole world knows,” Pederneiras said. “After so many years, so many victories, some defeats and an incredible success, today marks many years of hard work, much suffering and much joy. What most people can see is the struggle on the day and the result, but no one knows how much suffering there was to get there. I have seen many give up at the beginning or halfway through, but Junior gave it his all and managed to get where he is now.”

Pederneiras was choked up as he gave his tribute and struggled to contain his emotions as he received a standing ovation from the audience.

Aldo is just one of the thousands of underprivileged boys from all over Brazil who Pederneiras has opened the doors of his academy to over the past 30 years. Asked by a journalist present at the press conference about the importance of professionals like him providing opportunities for talents who cannot afford to pay, Pederneiras received another ovation at the end of the press conference after an affectionate hug to his main pupil.

“I sincerely hope that many more Pederneiras appear throughout Brazil creating opportunities for boys like Aldo to dream of being champions,” he said