Jose Aldo releases statement following loss to Petr Yan: ‘I will come back stronger than I already am’

Jose Aldo came up short in his attempt to become the UFC bantamweight champion in Abu Dhabi, losing via fifth-round TKO to Petr Yan at Saturday’s UFC 251. Afterwards, the Brazilian star showed no indication he plans on walking away from the sport, though.

Aldo released a brief statement in Portuguese on his social media the day after the loss, thanking his fans, asking for empathy, and promising to come back “stronger than I already am.”

Read the full statement below.

Today I woke up thinking of what to say to everyone, and what I have to say is that a loss is part of the sport, it’s part of my life, and those who doesn’t fight are the only ones that don’t lose.

I gave my best in this fight, I gave my all and my best in training, gave my best in my nutrition, I worked hard for I wanted even during a pandemic, but unfortunately it didn’t work.

Nobody wanted this belt more than me. I wanted to make history, but my opponent did better last night and he has his merits.

But people tend to carry the idea of a perfect world and forget that losing one battle doesn’t allow you to humiliate or much less discard someone else.

Empathy is always putting yourself on someone else’s shoes. I will come back stronger than I already am.

My gratitude goes to my team Nova Uniao, my friends, fans and family, whom I dedicate my best every day.

Strength and honor, always!

God is with us