Aldo (photo via UFC.com)

By FCF Staff

Many people believed the new-and-improved Chad Mendes would be Jose Aldo’s toughest test to date, and the featherweight champ survived a stern test tonight at UFC 179.

Aldo was sent to the mat early on in the bout, and took more than a few telling shots from Mendes, but he also knocked the challenger down on a couple of occasions. In fact, one of Aldo’s knockdowns took place after the bell, but Mendes was also warned two times for eye pokes.

After the thrilling, back-and-forth slugfest,  a bloodied Aldo was awarded a 49-46 score by all three judges, and retained the featherweight title. The renowned fighter has now won 18 straight fights. In 2012, Aldo KO’d Mendes in the opening round.

Here are the results from UFC 179, which went down in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Jose Aldo def. Chad Mendes via unanimous decision

Phil Davis def. Glover Teixeira via unanimous decision

Fabio Maldonado def. Hans Stringer via TKO (punches) R2, 4:06

Darren Elkins def. Lucas Martins via split decision

Beneil Dariush def. Diego Ferreira via unanimous decision

Neil Magny def. William Macario via TKO (strikes) R3, 2:40

Yan Cabral def. Naoyuki Kotani via Submission (rear-naked-choke) R2, 3:06

Wilson Reis def. Scott Jorgensen via Submission (arm-triangle-choke) R1, 3:28

Andre Fili def. Felipe Arantes via Unanimous Decision

Gilbert Burns def. Christos Giagos def. Submission (armbar) R1, 4:57

Tony Martin def. Fabricio Camoes via Submisssion (kimura) R1, 4:16