Surprise, surprise, the UFC’s recent plague of injuries hit yet another high-profile main event.
Featherweight champion Jose Aldo was recently forced out of his UFC 153 super-fight main event against Frankie Edgar, and now a once-promising UFC 153 card is in desperate need of a new headlining fight.
Edgar stepped in to fight Aldo on short notice, but due to the insane amount of fights that have been cancelled over the last few months, it seems likely that the UFC is going to do their best to leave a well-known fighter like Edgar on the card.
2012 has been a rough year for Edgar as he lost his UFC lightweight crown to Benson Henderson at UFC 144 in February, and after he failed to regain his belt at UFC 150 a month ago, he finally gave in to Dana White’s request to drop down to featherweight.
The primary reason Edgar dropped from lightweight to 145 pounds was to get his hands on UFC gold again, and with Aldo forced to bow out, there aren’t many high-profile options for “The Answer” to take in order to save the event.
Top contenders Chan Sung Jung and Ricardo Lamas could both use a high-profile win over Edgar in order to solidify their claim towards a UFC title bout, but the organization would have a tough time selling a pay-per-view event with either of those fighters, and they’ll need to throw in a proven draw if they want to make the card worth buying.
If the UFC wants to give fans a good reason to buy this card, which in all honesty still has a solid lineup of fights behind it, they need to throw Urijah Faber into the main event against Edgar.
“The California Kid” recently came out on twitter and said he would be willing to step in on short notice to fight Edgar, and in a lot of ways that fight makes more sense than a bout with Aldo ever did.
Much like “The Answer,” Faber has fallen short in his last few attempts at earning UFC gold, and it may be time for Faber to go back to the division that he once ruled with an iron fist if he ever wants another crack at UFC gold.
For a time, Faber was considered one of the top pound for pound fighters in the world as he reigned over the WEC’s featherweight class, but after losing his belt and a few opportunities to earn it back along the way, he decided a drop to bantamweight was a better option.
A 2-2 stint in the 135-pound weight class during his current UFC run has left Faber on the outside looking in concerning the bantamweight title picture, and after losing a shot at the interim belt in July, a return home may be Faber’s last shot at winning a UFC belt.
Faber could easily make the jump back up to featherweight and take on a lesser known opponent to get back into the mix, but let’s face it, “The California Kid” isn’t exactly a kid anymore and he needs to take any fight possible that could help him climb back into title contention.
A bout with Edgar would do exactly that, and it would be a suitable consolation prize for fans that wanted the Aldo-Edgar super fight.
While Faber may not bring the same kind of resume that Aldo has established over the last few years, he’s still proven to be one of the toughest fighters to take out south of 155 pounds, and he would be one of the best tests imaginable for Edgar in his 145-pound debut.
If Edgar is able to get passed Faber, we can safely consider him the biggest threat available to Aldo’s belt, but if “The California Kid” can find a way to defeat a former UFC lightweight champion in the main event of a PPV, he would instantly find himself in position to earn himself a rematch with Aldo in the near future.
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