{"id":179,"date":"2026-07-06T15:43:40","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T15:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/mma\/?p=179"},"modified":"2026-07-06T15:43:40","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T15:43:40","slug":"the-rock-jose-aldo-ufc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/mma\/2026\/07\/06\/the-rock-jose-aldo-ufc\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rock Calls Jose Aldo One of His Favorite UFC Fighters During Viral Brazil Meet-Up\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The crossover between the UFC and WWE continues to thrive under the TKO banner, and it was on full display when Jose Aldo shared a wholesome interaction with Dwayne &#8220;The Rock&#8221; Johnson in Brazil. The former two-time UFC featherweight champion met Johnson during a fan event in Rio de Janeiro promoting Disney&#8217;s upcoming live-action adaptation of Moana.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As fans already know, Johnson reprises his role as Maui, the shapeshifting demigod he originally voiced in the animated film. He stars alongside Catherine Laga&#8217;aia, who plays the title character, in the live-action remake, which releases this Friday.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Aldo attended the event with his entire family and introduced himself to Johnson despite being a legend in his own right. The Brazilian also presented Johnson with a special gift, saying, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI have a gift for you because I am a former UFC champion.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Johnson immediately recognized the UFC icon and warmly greeted him. The former 10-ti<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">me WWE champion said, \u201cI know you! I was just talking about you today, they were asking me today about who\u2019s your favorite UFC fighter. Anderson Silva, Jose Aldo. How are you?\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Jose Aldo met The Rock at a Moana event in Brazil and gave him a gift:<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udde3\ufe0f \u201cI have a gift for you because I am a former UFC champion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udde3\ufe0f \u201cI know you! I was just talking about you today, they were asking me today about who\u2019s your favourite UFC fighter.\u201d <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/sKzwTj1RKp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/sKzwTj1RKp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 ACD MMA (@acdmma_) <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/acdmma_\/status\/2073444959164772594?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 4, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>ALSO READ:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/mma\/2026\/07\/06\/ufc-329-conor-mcgregor-injury\/\" target=\"_self\">UFC 329 Countdown Shows the Exact Moment Conor McGregor Broke His Toe Before Michael Chandler Comeback<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By naming Aldo alongside Anderson Silva, Johnson made it clear that the Brazilian ranks among his favorite mixed martial artists. Aldo returned the compliment by praising Johnson&#8217;s portrayal of MMA legend Mark Kerr in last year&#8217;s biographical film The Smashing Machine. The encounter became even more heartwarming when Johnson posed for photos with Aldo and his family, including his wife, daughter, and son.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Johnson&#8217;s appreciation for combat sports is well documented. Although he built his legacy in professional wrestling, he has long been an avid follower of MMA. He famously <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=PnW4E8j9gNI\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">appeared at UFC 244 in 2019<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to present the inaugural BMF championship belt to Jorge Masvidal after his victory over Nate Diaz.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The interaction also drew attention online from wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer, who pointed out that Johnson has followed MMA closely since the early Zuffa and PRIDE eras. Meltzer also noted that fellow WWE legends The Undertaker and Stone Cold Steve Austin shared a similar passion for the sport.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He wrote, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe idea DJ wouldn\u2019t know Jose Aldo is ridiculous. I don\u2019t know how much he keeps up with the current version, but he knew every top UFC and Pride fighter more than almost every celebrity. Austin and Taker were big fans as well.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The idea dj wouldn\u2019t know Jose Aldo is ridiculous. I don\u2019t know how much he keeps up with the current version but he knew every top ufc and pride fighter more than almost every celebrity. Austin and taker were big fans as well <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/VgwDJY6Khb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/VgwDJY6Khb<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Dave Meltzer (@davemeltzerWON) <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/davemeltzerWON\/status\/2073796867935359423?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 5, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Aldo, meanwhile, remains one of the most accomplished fighters in MMA history. His reign as UFC featherweight champion spanned nearly a decade and featured dominant victories over virtually every top contender of his era. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While his 13-second knockout <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/mma\/2026\/07\/03\/jose-aldo-conor-mcgregor-ufc\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">loss to Conor McGregor at UFC 194<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in 2015 remains one of the most iconic moments in UFC history, it often overshadows the extraordinary legacy he built before that defeat and the resilience he showed afterward. Aldo retired from MMA twice, with his second retirement in 2025 marking the definitive end of his legendary career.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His final appearance came at UFC 315 on May 10, 2025, in Montreal, where he moved back up to featherweight and lost a closely contested, widely debated unanimous decision to Aiemann Zahabi. He finished his storied MMA career with a professional record of 32-10 and is widely regarded <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=C9yBpqfhJqI\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">as the greatest featherweight champion<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the history of combat sports.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The crossover between the UFC and WWE continues to thrive under the TKO banner, and it was on full display when Jose Aldo shared a wholesome interaction with Dwayne &#8220;The Rock&#8221; Johnson in Brazil. The former two-time UFC featherweight champion met Johnson during a fan event in Rio de Janeiro promoting Disney&#8217;s upcoming live-action adaptation [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5886,"featured_media":180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[75,80],"class_list":["post-179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ufc","tag-jose-aldo","tag-the-rock"],"modified_by":"Kshitiz Kumar Singh","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/mma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/mma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/mma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/mma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5886"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/mma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/mma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":181,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/mma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179\/revisions\/181"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/mma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/mma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/mma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/mma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}