In his first non-title fight in more than nine years, Jose Aldo was hurt, but recovered and shut down Jeremy Stephens thanks to a wicked punch to the body.

Aldo (27-4 MMA, 9-3 UFC), a former longtime featherweight champion, landed a right to the body, then a left that had Stephens (28-15 MMA, 15-14 UFC) doubled over and quickly on the canvas. From there, Aldo poured it on to get the finish at the 4:19 mark of the first round.

The featherweight bout was the co-main event of today’s UFC on FOX 30 show at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It aired on FOX following additional prelims on FOX and UFC Fight Pass.

Aldo won the WEC’s featherweight title in November 2009. He became the UFC’s inaugural featherweight champion when the WEC and UFC merged in 2010. He defended his title until a loss to Conor McGregor in 2015. In his next fight, he won the interim belt and later was promoted to full champion again. But then he lost the title to current champ Max Holloway, and lost a rematch with him, as well. But all told, he had 14 consecutive title fights over about an eight-year period until tonight’s bout with Stephens.

Stephens kicked high 45 seconds in, then went after Aldo’s lead leg. A minute in, he tried to chase Aldo down with a right hand. He threw a knee to the body, then landed a leg kick after that. Stephens clipped Aldo with a right, but ate a hard kick from Aldo as a counter.

Aldo tried to get in and out with a right, but missed. He landed an uppercut after that, but Stephens returned fire and landed a right. Stephens backed Aldo to the fence and landed big bombs. Aldo put his hands down and recovered and threw his own hard punches. Aldo landed, too, and cut Stephens. With two minutes left, Stephens tried a spinning backfist that was too telegraphed for Aldo to fall for.

With 75 seconds left, Aldo landed punches, and seconds later landed a massive shot to the body. It took Stephens a second to let it register, but when he did he doubled over and hit the canvas. Aldo went to the canvas with him and started landing ground-and-pound, and with Stephens covering up, the fight was over.

“The champion is back,” Aldo said through a translator after the fight. “I just have to keep it up.”

Aldo snapped a two-fight skid of title-fight losses to champ Max Holloway for his first win in more than two years. Stephens had a three-fight winning streak snapped.

Up-to-the-minute UFC on FOX 30 results include:

• Jose Aldo def. Jeremy Stephens via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 4:19
• Joanna Jedrzejczyk def. Tecia Torres via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Alexander Hernandez def. Olivier Aubin-Mercier via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
• Jordan Mein def. Alex Morono via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Hakeem Dawodu def. Austin Arnett via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Islam Makhachev def. Kajan Johnson via submission (armbar) – Round 1, 4:43
• Ion Cutelaba def. Gadzhimurad Antigulov via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 4:25
• John Makdessi def. Ross Pearson via unanimous decision (30-26, 29-27, 29-28)
• Katlyn Chookagian def. Alexis Davis via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
• Dustin Ortiz def. Matheus Nicolau via knockout (head kick, punches) – Round 1, 3:49
• Nina Ansaroff def. Randa Markos via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Devin Powell def. Alvaro Herrera via knockout (strikes) – Round 1, 1:52

For complete coverage of UFC on FOX 30, check out the UFC Events section of the site.