Jose Aldo knocked out Jeremy Stephens at 4:19 of the first round (Getty Images) Jose Aldo delivered a none-too-subtle reminder Saturday that despite three recent losses, he remains one of the elite fighters in the world. Aldo had lost three of his last four, including his last two, and was given up for dead by many. But in a toe-to-toe slugfest Saturday with Jeremy Stephens at the Saddledome in Calgary, Aldo delivered a reminder of his historic championship run atop the UFC’s featherweight division from 2010 through 2015, stopping Stephens with a pair of pulverizing body shots at 4:19 of the first round. It was vintage Aldo exchanging concussive punches with Stephens for the first four minutes before catching Stephens with a pair of shots to the body. Aldo landed a right and followed with a left hook he turned into, and Stephens turned, winced and fell to the canvas in a fetal position. Aldo joined Zuffa, the company that owns the UFC, and fought for its World Extreme Cagefighting company because the UFC didn’t have featherweights. He won his first 15 fights in the WEC and UFC, and was rarely challenged. In his last three, he was knocked out at UFC 194 in just 13 seconds by Conor McGregor on Dec. 12, 2015. He scored a five-round decision over Frankie Edgar at UFC 200, then lost a pair of championship fights, at UFC 212 and UFC 218, to Max Holloway. Stephens entered the fight on a roll, having won three in a row, and believing he’d finish Aldo to make a statement and earn a title shot. “Conor took his head, Max took his heart and I’m going to take his soul,” Stephens told Yahoo Sports before the fight. “Look at his face: It’s drooping. He’s been in a lot of wars. He’s been in a lot of fights. He’s got a lot of damage [from fights] but not only that, it’s also from the training camps that he’s had. I’ll get my chance to expose him and I’ll do exactly what I said.” It wasn’t to be, though. Aldo didn’t look diminished a bit, and survived a brief moment of concern midway through the round when Stephens landed a pair of uppercuts that rocked him. Story continues He’s been fighting since 2004 and the poise and patience he’s gained in those 14 years paid off. He slipped out of danger and went back to firing big shots at Stephens. It was the body shots, however, that did Stephens in. Stephens wasn’t happy with the finish, but he was clearly in trouble and Aldo was in a dominant position. It was reminiscent of his heyday, when he made nine consecutive successful defenses of his WEC/UFC featherweight crown. He alluded to that in the cage following the win. “The champion is back,” Aldo said. He has plenty of work yet to do, but on this night, at least, it was vintage Aldo. And that was not only more than enough to beat Stephens, it is likely enough to beat just about everyone at featherweight. More from Yahoo Sports: • Air Force player comes out as gay: ‘I did not think this day would ever come’ • Dez Bryant blames Cowboys ‘garbage ass play calling’ for struggles in Twitter rant • Is a Jimmer Fredette NBA comeback possible? • Yankees fans go after pitcher on Twitter who hit Aaron Judge<doc-sep>Jose Aldo got his groove back earlier tonight (Sat., July 28, 2018) at UFC on FOX 30 from inside Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, as the former UFC featherweight champion finished streaking power puncher Jeremy Stephens via first-round TKO. While it wasn’t the most perfect performance by Aldo considering he ate some good shots early on, it was the win the Brazilian needed to validate his future in UFC. Stephens is a hard out at 145 pounds and hung in the pocket for the majority of this fight, but Aldo proved the better striker when he landed a left hook to the liver of “Lil Heathen” in the very first round. Stephens couldn’t stomach the pain, Aldo pounced on top for heavy ground-and-pound, and the referee stepped in for the stoppage. Check out the memorable first-round finish above courtesy of UFC. With this performance, Aldo ends a two-fight losing streak he suffered at the hands of current UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway. Aldo doesn’t have too many fights left on his current UFC contract, but another performance like this one could give him good reason to keep the party rolling. For complete UFC Calgary results and coverage click here.<doc-sep>It took walking through the fire of Jeremy Stephens' haymakers to get there, but former featherweight king Jose Aldo's first-round knockout on Saturday -- his first since 2013 -- proved equally emotional and sweet. The reaction from Aldo (27-4) after the bout at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary said it all. Fresh off a pair of knockout defeats to current 145-pound champion Max Holloway, the Brazilian legend collapsed to his knees amid a flurry of tears after finishing the rugged Stephens (28-15) with hammer punches on the ground in the co-main event of UFC on Fox 30. Aldo, 31, who ran off an unbeaten streak of nearly 10 years until he lost his title to via 13-second knockout to Conor McGregor in 2015, briefly left the cage to hug his wife before returning to smile and dance his way through his name being announced as the winner. "The champion is back," Aldo said. "I just have to keep it up." As weird as it was to see Aldo fight off pay-per-view, it was just as eye-opening to realize that the fight also represented his first non-title bout in his 12-fight UFC run which began in 2011 when the promotion absorbed the WEC's featherweight class and named Aldo its first champion. Can't get enough UFC? Subscribe to my podcast In This Corner with Brian Campbell where I break down everything you need to know in the Octagon. There was fear entering Saturday that Aldo might never be the same after dropping three of his last four bouts, including all three by knockout. But like his recent losses to Holloway, he was willing to go out on his shield if need be against Stephens and never backed down despite being tagged early with power shots as Stephens proved success in turning the fight into a brawl. Stephens got off to an early start with outside leg kicks and knees to the body. But the action heated up when he rocked Aldo with a right hand and, after adding another two-punch combo, staggered Aldo with a clean right uppercut that gave the feeling he was ready to be finished. To his credit, Aldo kept pushing forward and throwing counter shots, including one that produced a cut below the right eye of Stephens. Over time, it suddenly appeared as if Stephens was slowing down and wilting a bit as Aldo powered forward despite having been lit up so cleanly just moments earlier. The fight changed for good late in the round when Aldo landed a two-punch combination downstairs, with a vicious left hook to the liver dropping Stephens as he openly winced in pain. Aldo swarmed with hammer shots and short punches until referee Yves Lavigne finally stepped in at 4:19 to wave off the fight. "I was a little bit worried to lose the fight but I was practicing a lot and excited to be here so I was happy to pull through," Aldo said. The loss for Stephens snapped an impressive (and violent) three-fight win streak in which the longtime brawler began to emerge as a sleeper title contender.<doc-sep>
Jose Aldo scores thunderous knockout victory to snap losing streak Jose Aldo's first ever non-title fight in the UFC was a roaring success. Jose Aldo badly needed a win at UFC Calgary. The consensus greatest featherweight of all time entered into his bout against Jeremy Stephens off back-to-back knockout losses to Max Holloway. He was also finished in three of his previous four fights and already hinting at retirement. 'Scarface' closed as the betting underdog against 'Lil Heathen' who came into the fight off the back of his joint-best run in the UFC. Stephens was riding a three-fight win-streak after beating Gilbert Melendez, Doo Ho Choi and Josh Emmett respectively. The oddsmakers got this one wrong though. Even though Aldo's an old 31-year-old, he proved he had plenty left in the tank in Canada. The greatest The fight started off very ropey. Aldo appeared to be a little gun-shy in the opening exchanges. Stephens waded forward, landed a few hard leg kicks and tried to goad the Brazillian into a brawl. Stephens had Aldo hurt early on. In one of the wilder exchanges, he caught Aldo with a huge uppercut and had him trapped against the fence. Aldo looked a little dazed, but utilised his head movement wonderfully to avoid any further damage and recover. The beginning of the end came when Aldo landed a seismic body shot. At first, it looked like Stephens ate it well. However, the pain just took a few moments to set in. In a delayed reaction, the American crumbled to the canvas. Aldo pounced on him and landed heavy ground and pound until the referee had seen enough. He awarded Aldo the TKO victory at the 4:19 mark of the very first round. WHAT. A. BODY SHOT. @josealdojunior gets the TKO win over Jeremy Stephens. pic.twitter.com/Gcg4H7fUJn — FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) July 29, 2018 Aldo was understandably delighted to get back in the win column. It marked his first finish in five years. The last time he finished an opponent was against Chan Sung Jung in 2013. 'The Korean Zombie' actually dislocated his shoulder in the lead up to the TKO. “The champion is back,” Aldo said with the help of a translator. “I just have to keep it up.” The result sees Aldo improve to 27-4 (9-3 UFC). Meanwhile, Stephens fell to 28-15 (15-14 UFC).