Jose Aldo appeared to be cruising to a comfortable victory at UFC 163 last night before capitalizing on a freak shoulder to ‘The Korean Zombie’ offered him the chance to finish by fourth round TKO, but it turns out Aldo too was suffering from a freak injury in the fight.
“He put his knees out the first time I kicked him,” Aldo said at the post-fight press conference. “I don’t know if I broke my foot I know it’s very swollen.”
That explains why Aldo adopted a different gameplan for this fight, abandoning the frequent leg kicks that we’ve seen from him in the past and instead focusing on a mixture of punching combinations, clinch work and takedowns throughout the fight.
“I had to change my strategy, I had to totally change up,” the champion said. “I tried to counterattack him. I knew I won three rounds, so I tried to do a little of everything, boxing, wrestling, and some jiu-jitsu.”
It may not have proven to be the best or most exciting fight we’ve seen from Aldo, but under the circumstances it’s impressive that he was still able to stay so composed and navigate a route to victory without one of his key weapons, showing how well-rounded of a mixed martial artist he is.
“I’m a complete fighter, I always try to practice everything. Whenever the fight goes I always try to use all my weapons. I don’t have one weapon, I have a whole arsenal of weapons for whoever’s out there.”
Aldo then left the press conference early to go to the hospital to have his foot scanned in order to confirm whether or not his foot is actually broken, joining his opponent Chan Sung Jung who also required treatment after disclocating his shoulder late in the fight.
Aldo is now on a five fight winning streak since joining the UFC, and in fact hasn’t been beaten in over seven years, wielding an outstanding 23-1 professional record.
