UFC quietly releases legendary Hall of Famer Jose Aldo, as well as historic TUF winner

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) legend Jose Aldo is no longer on the roster.

Indeed, the two-time Featherweight champion, who officially retired from mixed martial arts (MMA), has been removed from UFC’s active roster.

On top of that, former two-time The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) winner, Brad Katona, has also been removed from the roster, which means he has been released from his respective contract, and/or the promotion decided not to extend it.

Social media account Borrachinha Depot reported the release on Monday.

Aldo (32-10) retired (again) after losing a unanimous decision to Aiemann Zahabi at UFC 315 last month, seven months after dropping a controversial decision to Mario Bautista in Salt Lake City.

The Hall of Famer’s return from his first retirement was extremely underwhelming, mainly because of the absurd, weird, and boring matchmaking, but nevertheless, he did give the fans one win over Jonathan Martinez in his hometown of Rio De Jinero at UFC 301 last year (May 2024).

Aldo departs UFC with a 14-9 record and the most successful title defenses in UFC Featherweight history with seven.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Katona (14-5) unfortunately did not have a great second run in the promotion.

After winning TUF for the second time in an absolute classic against Cody Gibson, the Canadian dropped three of his next four fights, including losses to Garrett Armfield, Jean Matsumoto, and, most recently, was knocked out for the first time in his career by Bekzat Almakhan (watch highlights).

While it was kind of a shocking cut because of his TUF history and the fact that UFC needs Canadians to fill cards, Katona only delivered one finish in nine fights.

Katona exits UFC with a 4-5 record.

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