UFC 142 Results: Jose Aldo's Reckless Crowd Surfing Endangers Audience

It happened so fast it was almost a blur. Slow motion replay reveals it was a left knee to the jaw that ended challenger Chad Mendes' night with just one second left in the first round. For featherweight champion Jose Aldo, the excitement was just beginning.

After the biggest knockout of his career, Aldo abandoned the cage like there had been a bomb threat. He didn't want to celebrate with Joe Rogan or shake the hand of UFC Vice President Joe Silva. On the biggest night of his life, Aldo wanted to be with his fans.

"I was so overcome with emotion that I wanted to celebrate with my people," he told the media after the fight.

The crowd engulfed the young champion, who quickly disappeared in a mass of screams, waving arms, and undistilled joy. It was a beautiful and amazing moment—and it can never happen again.

The truth is, Aldo put himself and every fan in that section of the crowd in serious danger. Crowds are an unpredictable thing. Even people with good intentions, like the Aldo fans in his hometown of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, can do untold harm in the blink of an eye.

A joyous celebration can turn into a tragedy in an instant. Fans who want to be part of the moment surge forward, oblivious to those in front of them, with eyes only for the star in their midst, accidentally trampling, stomping and crushing the unfortunates in their path. Luckily this didn't happen, but that won't always be the case.

Sound like hyperbole? It's not. Soccer fans have seen it all too often—even in Brazil, where a stadium collapse left fans dead in 2007 and several were killed in a crush of people during a 2000 championship final between Vasco da Gama and Sao Caetano right there in Rio.

And it's not just a problem for soccer fans or Brazilians. Two unfortunate fans were trampled in the wake of Oklahoma State's win over Oklahoma this season. It can happen anywhere at any time if promoters and event organizers don't make plans to prevent chaos.

And these are cases of happy fans just wanting to be part of history. What about fans with bad designs who want to take a shot at a fighter? The Ron Artest led melee in Detroit back in 2004 opened the eyes of sports promoters worldwide about the dangers of athletes going into the crowd.

Artest and his teammates ended up slugging it out with fans in a scary scene that could have been much worse. Ask Monica Seles, the tennis player stabbed by a deranged fan in 1993 during a match in Germany.

For Aldo it was a beautiful moment, spontaneous, joyful and unique. But the overwhelmingly positive feedback means there will be copycats. And every time, disaster will be looming, tragedy a moment away.

The UFC should absolutely use this wonderful and organic celebration to promote Aldo, a great champion who before last night hadn't connected with fans. At the same time, they have to make it clear to fighters going forward that celebrating in the crowd can't ever happen again.