Kenny Florian: ‘We saw the best Jose Aldo’ ever at UFC 265

Kenny Florian says the new version of Jose Aldo is the improved version of the former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Featherweight kingpin. Florian dropped a unanimous decision to Aldo — the then-defending UFC Featherweight champion — at UFC 136 in Oct. 2011.

The former UFC analyst — who was released for alleged “plagiarism” back in 2016 — praised Aldo’s improvements in a winning effort against Pedro Munhoz at UFC 265, which took place inside Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, earlier this month.

“It was brilliant to watch. Jose Aldo is such a talent and I’ve always been kind of waiting for that Jose Aldo who used to throw a lot of leg kicks, and a lot of kicks in general. I think we saw the best Jose Aldo we’ve ever seen [against Munhoz], especially in round three of that fight. He was on fire against Munhoz,” Florian told James Lynch (h/t BJPenn.com). “I thought there was a nice build-up to his fight. He was perhaps a little bit more reserved in round one (but) he just showed that he is truly a master of mixed martial arts. When he’s at his best, man, especially in a three-round fight, he’s going to be very difficult to beat.

“It shows his mindset to carry this type of hunger and this type of passion for the sport,” Florian continue. “I think he made his MMA debut like 17 years ago or something, his first pro fight. So to see that he’s still here competing at this high level in the UFC, it says a lot about him as a martial artist, as a man, as a professional. I’ve said this on the podcast, and this is the most d’uh statement of the year, but he’s for sure going into the UFC Hall of Fame. He’s going to go down as one of the best featherweights and bantamweights ever. It’s a pleasure to watch him compete. It was an honor to compete against someone like Jose Aldo who will go down as one of the GOATs.”

Aldo (30-7) is campaigning for a fight against former UFC Bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw.

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