Author: Mike Hoag

UFC 156: Potential Opponents for Jose Aldo After Beating Frankie Edgar

Jose Aldo is a valuable commodity for the UFC after winning the UFC 156 main event against Frankie Edgar. Aldo, UFC’s featherweight champion, scored arguably the biggest win of his MMA career by warding off Edgar on Feb. 2. But where does he go f…

Jose Aldo is a valuable commodity for the UFC after winning the UFC 156 main event against Frankie Edgar.

Aldo, UFC’s featherweight champion, scored arguably the biggest win of his MMA career by warding off Edgar on Feb. 2. But where does he go from here?

The iron is hot for the 26-year-old Brazilian mixed martial artist. He has an opportunity now to headline more UFC cards and face some of the best competition the sport has to offer.

Those offers have already begun to come.

Let’s take a look at a couple of potential fights for Aldo that will further his career and backup his fearless reputation.

 

Anthony Pettis, Lightweight

Moments after UFC 156 concluded, UFC president Dana White received a text message from Anthony Pettis claiming he wanted to drop down to 145 to challenge Aldo for the featherweight title, according to the UFC (via Twitter):

 

Aldo doesn’t back down from challenges and isn’t about to start now.

“It’s up to Dana, but it’s an interesting fight,” Aldo said (h/t ESPN’s Brett Okamoto). “I train to fight the best. I respect them all. I think Pettis is close to a title shot in his own division.”

Pettis (16-2), who is believed to be next in line for a shot at the lightweight title, is coming off of a UFC on Fox knockout of Donald Cerrone. That win lined him up to be the next in line for the title, pending the result of the Benson Henderson and Gilbert Melendez title bout.

 

Ricardo Lamas, Featherweight

Featherweight Ricardo Lamas (13-2) is potentially the first in line in the division for a shot at Aldo’s title. He’s coming off four straight wins, including a second-round TKO of Erik Koch on January 26’s UFC on Fox.

White said Lamas would fight another contender if Pettis drops to 145 to challenge Aldo, according to Okamoto. That contender may possible be Chan-Sung Jung.

 

Chan-Sung Jung, Featherweight

As mentioned, Chan-Sung Jung (13-3) is another top-tier contender in the featherweight division and could be in line for a shot at Aldo in the not-so-distant future.

His last three fights were all wins, his most recent win at UFC on Fuel TV in May 2012. The win, an upset of rising star Dustin Poirier, was named the fight of the year for 2012 by Sherdog.com.

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Aldo vs. Edgar: What’s Next for ‘The Answer’ After Third Straight Loss?

Jose Aldo outlasted Frankie Edgar for 25 minutes inside the Octagon at UFC 156 to hand The Answer his third straight and fourth overall loss in the promotion. After losing his title and subsequent rematch to Benson Henderson, Edgar dropped to the feath…

Jose Aldo outlasted Frankie Edgar for 25 minutes inside the Octagon at UFC 156 to hand The Answer his third straight and fourth overall loss in the promotion.

After losing his title and subsequent rematch to Benson Henderson, Edgar dropped to the featherweight division to challenge Aldo for his title.

It didn’t go as planned as he was outclassed in a second weight class.

But it wasn’t a bad showing for the former lightweight champion. Neither were his past two bouts against Henderson.

Expectations have skyrocketed since he defeated B.J. Penn for his title at UFC 112 and that has set the bar very high for Edgar. Anything less than a championship is unacceptable.

But this recent loss shouldn’t discourage him too badly as he doesn’t have much to be down on himself for. Although, the 31-year-old does need to work on his finishing in order to put fighters away rather than let a title fight reach a decision.

What’s next for Edgar following another disappointing loss is anyone’s guess. But, you have to believe he is going to gear up for another title run in the not-so-distant future.

He didn’t seem too down on himself following the loss.

“It was a close fight, and I keep finding myself in these situations,” Edgar said (h/t Matt Erickson of MMAJunkie.com). “It is what it is, so congrats to Jose on a good fight. I (thought I won the third), but it don’t matter. Jose’s the winner. I’m just going to go home and take some time, that’s all.”

It won’t take too much “time” for Edgar’s phone to start ringing about his next fight. The only question is whether it will be in the lightweight or featherweight division.

Given Edgar’s shift to featherweight, he feels he gained some speed and is stronger due to the drop in weight. He looked like it, too, in his performance against Aldo.

But where does this leave him now that’s found himself as a man without an opponent?

If he returns to the lightweight division, we could get to see a third title fight between him and Henderson, but he’d likely need to win a fight or two in order to earn a shot in that competitive group.

More than likely he will schedule another fight at 145 and take another shot at Aldo. He looked energetic and tough as a featherweight and that’s likely the best and quickest route for him to earn another title.

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St Pierre vs. Condit Results: GSP Doesn’t Miss a Beat in UFC Comeback

All of the speculation about Georges St-Pierre can finally be put to rest. GSP isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, even after 18 months away from the Octagon to rehab his injured knee. He handled arguably one of the elite welterweights in the spor…

All of the speculation about Georges St-Pierre can finally be put to rest. GSP isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, even after 18 months away from the Octagon to rehab his injured knee.

He handled arguably one of the elite welterweights in the sport to the tune of a unanimous decision. Thunderous applause followed as GSP picked up right where he left off in the UFC: On top.

There are few things that are guaranteed in the UFC, wins included, but one of them is the certainty that you’ll get your money’s worth whenever St-Pierre headlines an event.

Saturday night’s UFC 154 main event didn’t disappoint.

We were treated to five full rounds of GSP and interim champion Carlos Condit absolutely battling it out for the rights to the UFC welterweight title.

If you weren’t already sure before, is St-Pierre the best pound-for-pound fighter in all of the UFC after his tremendous comeback victory?

Well, he’s the best in his division, hands down and he proved that again in dominant fashion by handling a lethal Condit for five rounds.

A left high kick from Condit in the opening moments of the third round stunned and sent St-Pierre reeling to the mat. The interim champ sprung all over him. The champ’s eye was opening up during that sequence, but he ended up escaping.

Condit squandered his shot and GSP made him pay by bringing things back to the mat, where his opponents go to die.

Although not a flawless victory, it was definitely a convincing one to say the least.

An upcoming fight with middleweight champion Anderson Silva could revolutionize the sport, helping to solidify St-Pierre as one of the best all-time in the process.

MMAFighting.com reporter Ariel Helwani said (via Twitter) following the fight that Dana White and Silva were on board with it going down:

Whattya say, GSP?

St-Pierre’s already a king in the sport and proved it with his seamless return to the Octagon against Condit. However, a win over someone like Silva is the type of stuff that builds legends.

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