Max Holloway stops Jose Aldo to become the undisputed UFC featherweight champion

The UFC featherweight title was unified tonight in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the end result saw a new undisputed champion crowned in Hawaii’s Max ‘Blessed’ Holloway.

Jose Aldo (26-3), the greatest featherweight to ever step into the Octagon, lost his title for the second time tonight to a younger, fresher fighter in Holloway (18-3). Unlike his loss to Conor McGregor, this represents a true changing of the guard at 145 lbs in the UFC.

Without defending his title once, McGregor went on to fight at welterweight twice before moving down to make history at lightweight by defeating Eddie Alvarez, thus becoming the only active 2-division champion in history. To this day, McGregor has yet defend that title. But that’s besides the point. In Holloway, the featherweight division may just have it’s next Jose Aldo; a young champion at the top of his game who is going to be extremely tough to beat over the next half decade.

During his current 11-fight win streak, Holloway already holds wins over top ranked fighters in Ricardo Lamas, Cub Swanson and Anthony Pettis. Out of everyone in the division, Frankie Edgar may be the one licking his chops right now. Having already lost to Aldo twice in title fights, an argument for Holloway-Edgar can be made following his destruction of up and comer Yair Rodriguez at UFC 211. Swanson has already thrown his name in the hat as well. 

Watch the live UFC 212 ‘Aldo vs. Holloway’ post-fight press conference here