Robbery Review: Aimeann Zahabi vs. Jose Aldo at UFC 315

05/13/2025 11:00 AM

Few things infuriate MMA fans more than a fight being scored incorrectly, though the term "robbery" tends to be thrown around carelessly and is often steeped in bias. With Robbery Review, we'll take a look back at controversial fights and determine whether the judges were rightly criticized for their decision or if pundits need to examine their own knee-jerk reactions.

Jose Aldo was robbed.

Aaaaaah… feels good to say it, doesn't it? In what is apparently the final fight of the legend's career, Aldo came oh so close to authoring a finish that would stand among the best of his illustrious career. Even without it, it felt like he'd done enough to earn a decision against the streaking Aiemann Zahabi.

Alas. All three judges scored the fight for Zahabi, a verdict made all the more painful by Aldo's near-finish in Round 3 and having to watch the exhausted 38-year-old survive a grueling ground-and-pound attack in the closing stages of the bout. Moments later, Aldo announced his retirement, signaling the end of one of the most brilliant combat sports runs we've had the privilege to witness.

Fighters wished Aldo a fond farewell, but there was also plenty of outrage regarding the scoring.

Regardless of whether you agree with the judges or not, this is the most disputed UFC result of 2025 so far. And thus, we are honor-bound to take it to the Robbery Review lab.

What was the official result?

Aiemann Zahabi def. Jose Aldo via unanimous decision.

How did the fight go?

We're focusing on Round 2 on this re-watch as that turned out to be the swing round, as well as the chaos of Round 3, but let's touch upon the opening frame as well.

Round 1 was vintage Aldo as he immediately took the center of the octagon and stalked the circling Zahabi. Aldo was first to open up, scoring with quick combos that tested Zahabi's defense. Later, when Zahabi started to get loose, Aldo stayed a step ahead with his beautiful counter game and some playful head movement.

And now, Round 2. Zahabi capitalized on the momentum he built to close round 1, opening with a nice combo that included a knee to the body and a left hand. Aldo marched back at him, leading with his jab and a low kick. Zahabi also used leg kicks well, even with Aldo poised to counter. The jab game seemed to slightly favor Aldo, though Zahabi had his moments working from range as well. Then there's Aldo's body work, which included a sweet left hand rip to the ribs.

Credit to Zahabi, who was willing to take one to land one. The head movement Aldo showed at the end of Round 1 was nowhere to be seen as plenty of Zahabi's jabs found the mark. The tone of the match changed slightly as well, with Zahabi taking the advancing role.

Two minutes in, Zahabi landed the first of a pair of low blows that went unpenalized. Accidental or not, frustrating.

Aldo's jabs and counters were really on point, but I can see how this was a difficult round to score with Zahabi having success coming forward. More success than Aldo? Unclear.

The second low blow occurred with about a minute left in the round and after a longer pause in the action this time, Aldo went back to work with another left to the body. Zahabi responded with a jab that popped Aldo's head back. Growing bolder, Zahabi stepped right into Aldo's range and invited him to trade. The gambit paid off as he landed his best shot of the round, a counter right directly to Aldo's famous chin. Aldo shook it off. He closed the round with a flying knee that didn't have much behind it, a portent of what was to come.

Round 3 was defined by two sequences, one a flash of pure exhilaration, the other a stomach-churning scene.

After about 90 seconds of back-and-forth action, Aldo rocked Zahabi with a right down the middle. He followed with a knee to the jaw that sent Zahabi stumbling and put him in perfect position for a soccer kick. Yes, a perfectly timed, perfectly legal Jose Aldo soccer kick that connected directly with the front of Zahabi's face. Zahabi went down, but sprung up less than a second later.

Aldo didn't relent, throwing wild and landing another right that wobbled Zahabi. A running knee and more punches had Zahabi in survival mode and guess what? He survived! Three minutes left in the fight, this is where everything went downhill for Aldo, who was visibly drained. Zahabi easily stuffed a desperation takedown and shoved Aldo to the ground, where he maneuvered into top position and stayed there the rest of the round.

Zahabi was content to work in Aldo's closed guard as he loaded up ground-and-pound, including elbows that sliced Aldo open. Aldo stayed busy enough to avoid a killshot and a stoppage, but the clock had to have been moving in slow motion for him.

Shades of his fight with Mark Hominick at UFC 129, except Aldo didn't have a comfortable lead this time. He'd make it to the buzzer, but the real letdown was still to come.

What did the judges say?

Mike Bell, Pasquale Procopio, and David Therien all scored it 29-28 Zahabi, giving Round 1 to Aldo and Rounds 2 and 3 to Zahabi.

What did the numbers say?

(Statistics per UFC Stats)

I can't imagine the stats revealing much beyond what we saw with our own eyes, but let's dig in a little.

Total significant strikes heavily favor Zahabi (99-68), but obviously that number is inflated by Zahabi's late barrage. He outscored Aldo 52-20 in Round 3, with 25 of those points being ground strikes. Otherwise, Aldo won R1 23-21, Zahabi won Round 2 26-25, and Zahabi also won Round 3 27-20 if you're only counting standing strikes.

Aldo was officially credited with one knockdown in the third. I've seen people saying it was three knockdowns, but scrutinizing the footage I only see the knockdown off the soccer kick.

The right hand and knee wobbled Zahabi, but it was unclear if he was actually dropped. Then after the soccer kick knockdown, Aldo rushed in again with another kick that had Zahabi scrambling, but not down.

What did the media say?

You may have heard, us media folks are quite fond of that Aldo fellow, and we were solidly in his corner for this one. Sixteen of 20 scores submitted to MMA Decisions were in favor of 29-28 Aldo, with two having it 29-28 Zahabi and two having it a draw (ESPN's Phil Murphy clarified his score was due to a 10-8 for Zahabi in the third).

What did the people say?

(Data derived from MMA Decisions and Verdict MMA)

On MMA decisions, 62.4 percent of votes are for 29-28 Aldo, with 29-28 Zahabi well behind at 13.4 percent. Another 10.3 percent voted for 30-27 Aldo.

Over on the Verdict MMA app, fans were in agreement that the fight was almost too close to call.

Verdict scoring had Aldo winning 28.72 to 28.24, a margin of 48 points, hardly a difference worthy of angry tweets, right?

How did I score it?

I scored this one live as it happened and had it 29-28 Aldo.

After watching it with the benefit of being able to pause and rewind? 29-28 Aldo.

Frankly, not much changed for me upon review. Round 2 is the one that required added scrutiny and I found it just as indiscernible after putting it under the microscope. The difference for me came down to a few Aldo jabs that did damage and a couple of powerful body shots. But Zahabi landed plenty of clean punches, too, so scoring the round for him is completely fair.

Was it a robbery?

I'm seeing a lot of people say they would also have given Aldo Round 3, but I can't get there. The soccer kick flurry he unleashed on Zahabi was wonderful to watch and in a fair world, Aldo would have been rewarded for smacking Zahabi right in the face. But Zahabi recovered and took over after that.

I don't see how anyone can watch Aldo being bludgeoned on the ground for two straight minutes and score the round for him. If we're prioritizing immediate impact, then Aldo gets big points for nearly finishing the fight, but I'd argue Zahabi was just as close if not closer to earning a stoppage. Maybe it was fatigue and Father Time doing most of the work, but Zahabi did his part to beat down and bloody Aldo. Again, Zahabi recovered pretty quickly from Aldo's best shot. Aldo never resurfaced once he sank into deep waters.

That painful image of a bruised Aldo sitting against the cage in disappointment didn't look to me like a man upset with a decision. It looked like someone who knew he didn't do enough.

The final verdict

Not a robbery. And it's never felt worse writing that.