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UFC 136 Results: Why Frankie Edgar Would Clown Jose Aldo

Forty-eight hours ago, two men entered, and later left a sold-out Toyota Center in Houston, Texas with championship gold around their waists. UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo successfully defended their co…

Forty-eight hours ago, two men entered, and later left a sold-out Toyota Center in Houston, Texas with championship gold around their waists.

UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo successfully defended their coveted belts against dangerous challengers—Gray Maynard and Kenny Florian—in the UFC 136 double headliner.

Aldo neutralized Florian in a technical five-round affair, and Edgar shocked the world with a fourth-round stoppage in his trilogy with Maynard.

Of course, anytime you have two champions who aren’t too far off in weight, you can’t help but fantasize about a dream matchup between the two.

This is exactly why fans desperately crave a fight between middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva and welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre, or a battle between Jon Jones and Cain Velasquez. There’s just something about two champions colliding that draws in anticipation like no other.

Such is the same with Edgar and Aldo. Even UFC President Dana White admitted in the post-fight press conference that he’d like to see this fight come to fruition in the near future.

It probably won’t be the next fight on the horizon, though. Edgar will likely defend against Ben Henderson/Clay Guida, and Aldo will challenge the unbeaten Chad Mendes.

Nevertheless, if these two champions continue their winning ways, a dream bout between the two is inevitable.

Everyone is bound to have different opinions on this fantasy bout, but here’s my take on why Edgar would clown Aldo.

Frankie Edgar has overcome tougher competition

Before I explain, let me just state that I am not by any means attempting to discredit Aldo. The Brazilian is a true phenom with a ferocious skill set, but he is not untouchable, Mark Hominick proved that in their UFC 129 slugfest.

As a standup fighter, Aldo possesses a yin-yang blend of flawless technique/timing and destructive knockout power. He is also a highly-decorated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt under the Nogueira brothers, but it is a skill that still had yet to be seen in the Octagon.

Simply put, Aldo is every bit as good as the media makes him out to be, but he hasn’t beaten the type of opposition that Edgar has dealt with since becoming champion.

Aldo has demolished many formidable contenders, but none compare to B.J Penn and Gray Maynard. Edgar beat Penn twice and just became the first man to not only defeat, but knock out Maynard in an official MMA bout.

Aldo has more title defenses under his belt, if you count his WEC title defenses. He has destroyed Mike Thomas Brown and Manny Gamburyan, picked apart a very game Urijah Faber, and outpointed dangerous foes in Hominick and Florian.

Good wins, but nothing to be overly impressed with as they were all matchups that Aldo was supposed to win.

Edgar was not supposed to beat Penn for the title at UFC 112, and he certainly wasn’t supposed to do the exact same thing in the rematch at UFC 118.

In his second fight with a then-unbeaten Maynard, Edgar was expected to lose to “The Bully” once again. Maynard swarmed all over Edgar in the first round with powerful boxing, but Edgar survived and arguably won the rest of the rounds.

Leading up to the trilogy fight, Edgar was actually the favorite for once, but nobody expected the New Jersey native to finish Maynard, much less knock him out.

Edgar has overcome adversity against elite contenders and rose to the occasion—Aldo has yet to do that.

Frankie Edgar is a nightmare matchup for Aldo

Aldo is a far superior striker than Maynard, but Maynard is a much more powerful human being. If Maynard, with all of his power, connected on Edgar’s chin multiple times and could not put him away, Aldo will fail in that department as well.

Even if Aldo has the technique and the speed behind his punches that Maynard lacked, Edgar can take it and keep moving.

Edgar isn’t on Aldo’s level when it comes to striking, but the lightweight champ is one of the best boxers for MMA. Edgar’s slick head movement and tricky footwork will keep Aldo guessing, and once “The Answer” decides to mix in some takedowns, Edgar will take complete control of the fight.

I mentioned before that Aldo is an extremely crafty BJJ black belt, but Edgar is no slouch when it comes to rolling. Trained by elite Jiu-Jitsu practitioners, Renzo Gracie and Ricardo Almeida, Edgar has one of the best ground games in the division.

Edgar would be able to maintain top control and pummel Aldo with a relentless ground-and-pound assault. This would be Edgar’s smartest route to victory, but with his well-rounded arsenal he could find a way to win in just about any position.

Aldo is very talented, but one mistake that many fans seem to make is comparing the featherweight champion to Anderson Silva.

Sure, there are similarities in style and they are on the same team, but Aldo isn’t quite there yet. The featherweight division itself is still developing.

Aldo is undeniably the best at 145 pounds, but Florian was his biggest test and he did not dominate. No disrespect to Florian, but Edgar is a different, better beast.

Mitch Ciccarelli is the sexiest featured columnist on B/R MMA and a United States Airman. Follow Ciccarelli on Twitter @mitchciccarelli

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UFC 136: 5 Lightweights Next in Line to Fight the Edgar/Maynard 3 Winner

Arguably the most talent-rich weight class in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the lightweight division is home to some of the most memorable battles in recent history. The lightweights are often criticized for a lack of finishes, but they have alwa…

Arguably the most talent-rich weight class in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the lightweight division is home to some of the most memorable battles in recent history.

The lightweights are often criticized for a lack of finishes, but they have always been a staple for exhilarating bouts regardless of whether or not they are able to secure a knockout or a submission.

The unforgettable rematch between lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard at UFC 125 earlier this year is proof of that. Neither Edgar nor Maynard were able to finish the fight, and due to the fact that they were so evenly matched, the judges ruled the contest a draw after 25 minutes of jaw-dropping MMA action.

Just a mere three days away from settling the score in what can only be described as one of the most anticipated trilogies in the history of the sport, Edgar and Maynard are eager to prove who is truly the best in the world at 155 lbs.

However, as hungry as they are, there are challengers behind them with even bigger appetites.

The division is so stacked right now that a clear cut contender has yet to be determined, but here are five lightweights worthy of the next title shot.

*Note: Do not mistake this list as the official rankings of the lightweight division. Any fighter who has lost his last bout will not be considered for a title shot. Jim Miller is a top five contender, but came up short in his last trip to the Octagon, which is why he is left off the list.

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UFC 135: Is Jon Jones a More Impressive Champion Than Anderson Silva?

In what turned out to be a pivotal return for the Ultimate Fighting Championship to its birthing grounds of Denver, Colorado, light heavyweight champion Jon Jones proved he is every bit the phenom he is touted as. Jones masterfully picked apart former …

Jones masterfully picked apart former champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in the UFC 135 PPV headliner before submitting the MMA icon in the fourth round with a tightly executed rear naked choke. The loss marked the first time in Jackson’s UFC career that he had been stopped in the Octagon and the first since a 2005 TKO loss to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in the PRIDE Fighting Championships.

Humble in defeat, Jackson gave credit where credit was due and proclaimed that there isn’t a fighter in the division that can defeat Jones. It is a statement echoed by a large portion of the MMA audience and one that is extremely difficult to argue against.

After all, “Rampage” was at his very best last night. Jackson dedicated himself in training for this fight more so than he had in any of his previous bouts and he couldn’t inflict even the slightest amount of damage to the youngest champion in UFC history.

At 24 years old, Jones now holds back-to-back title victories and finishes over two MMA legends in “Rampage” Jackson and “Shogun” Rua. Such a feat was unheard of until Jones came along and the question is now starting to arise if he truly is the most impressive champion in the UFC today.

Surely, UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva will have a problem with that statement. Jones has finished two opponents in championship fights where Silva has already defended his throne a record of nine times.

Silva has dominated every victim put in his path since destroying Rich Franklin to win the title in 2006, but if you look at the level of competition he has faced, some of his opponents didn’t belong in the Octagon with him.

With decisive finishes over Franklin (twice), Dan Henderson, Vitor Belfort and Yushin Okami, it would be foolish to deny Silva as one of the greatest champions in UFC history, but some of his other victories aren’t as legendary as some like to believe.

Silva is the only current title holder to jump up in weight on occasion and demolish opponents in the 205 lbs division, but knocking out James Irvin and Forrest Griffin isn’t something to be overly impressed with. Irvin was a guinea pig with a mediocre record that was simply used as a way to give Silva a dominant win in his light heavyweight debut.

Griffin was a former champion and ranked in the top 10 of the division, but his glass jaw had been exposed several times before. Of course, the manner in which Silva dismantled the original Ultimate Fighter winner was remarkable but it was to be expected.

In defense of his middleweight title, Silva has gone the distance with lesser talent such as Demian Maia and Thales Leites and didn’t look overly imposing against Patrick Cote. Maia is arguably still a top ranked opponent, but neither Leites nor Cote are employed by the UFC at the present time.

This isn’t an attempt to discredit Silva but when you define a great champion, quality should be more significant over quantity. The fact is, Jones has beaten better quality opponents in his last two fights than a majority of Silva’s wins, and Silva has beaten many great fighters.

Even Silva’s come from behind submission win over Chael Sonnen at UFC 117 has to be considered a great performance, but Sonnen is not a legendary fighter in the sense that Jackson and Rua are—although the proud Republican will tell you otherwise.

Another thing you have to look at is age. Jones is 12 years younger than Silva and is dominating a weight division, whereas Silva didn’t hit his stride until his early 30’s. When Silva was a young fighter he was losing to mediocre talent such as Luiz Azeredo and Daiju Takase. Point being, Jones acquired greatness much quicker than Silva did.

If Jones adds Rashad Evans to his list of finished victims, that would be three consecutive stoppages over three former champions. Silva hasn’t done that yet. In fact, even though Silva stopped Henderson and Franklin in back-to-back fights, Franklin was the only one to hold a UFC title.

Both champions are impressive but Jones has an edge over his middleweight counterpart and many in the MMA community are starting to recognize it.

One thing is for sure—there is a new dream fight that MMA fans are dying to see. Georges St-Pierre can stay at welterweight while Jones and Silva battle it out at 205 lbs to determine who the most dominant fighter in the world truly is.

Mitch Ciccarelli is the sexiest columnist in MMA. In addition to being the longest running featured columnist in B/R MMA history, Ciccarelli is also currently serving in the United States Air Force. He is a man of many wives, including Olivia Wilde and Olivia Wilde’s twin sister Olivia Wilder. Follow him on Twitter @mitchciccarelli.

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UFC 135 Fight Card: Info and Predictions for Every Fight in Denver, CO

On November 12, 1993, the inaugural Ultimate Fighting Championship event was held in Denver, Colorado. The sport (if you could even call it that at the time) was billed as a no holds barred spectacle that would determine the ultimate martial artist on …

The event featured an eight man single-night tournament, with no weight classes and essentially no rules. Royce Gracie won the tournament, submitting three much larger opponents, and introduced North America to the phenomenon that is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Now, nearly 20 years later, the UFC has evolved into one of the most successful businesses in the entire world and is set to return home to the city where it all began.

UFC 135 brings the organization back to its Denver, Colorado roots. The fight card, which features a light heavyweight championship headliner between champion Jon Jones and challenger Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, will be the first time the UFC has been to its birthing grounds since 1995.

The action takes place this Saturday night, September 24, live on pay-per-view. With that said, let’s take a look at every fight on the card from top to bottom.

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UFC Fight Night 25: Is Jake Ellenberger GSP’s Biggest Nightmare?

In the ultra-competitive world of mixed martial arts, there are two types of competitors.There are athletes that are content with playing it safe and winning on points and then there are fighters who are not satisfied until they have ruthlessly destroy…

In the ultra-competitive world of mixed martial arts, there are two types of competitors.

There are athletes that are content with playing it safe and winning on points and then there are fighters who are not satisfied until they have ruthlessly destroyed their opposition in every way imaginable.

UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre is undeniably the best athlete in the sport today. St-Pierre has defended his championship six times since regaining the title in 2007.

With every defense, the champion has been dominant but, excluding B.J Penn’s corner throwing in the towel for a TKO stoppage at UFC 94, St-Pierre has not finished any of his challengers.

St-Pierre is the epitome of a great athlete but he is not the most dangerous man in the welterweight division.

After tonight, that title rests firmly around the waist of Jake Ellenberger. Not the UFC title, not yet at least, but the title of the division’s deadliest finisher.

At UFC Fight Night 25, it took Ellenberger a mere 53 seconds to do something that a 185-pound Dan Henderson couldn’t even do with his trademark “H-Bomb” (the very same “H-Bomb” that took Fedor Emelianenko out) and that was finish Jake Shields.

Surely a case can be made that Shields was not in the right frame of mind heading into the fight. He had just lost his father two weeks prior to the bout and instead of dropping out of the fight like most would, the valiant competitor decided to soldier on.

That, however, doesn’t discredit what Ellenberger did tonight because Shields likely would have been victorious if he competed against any other fighter in the division apart from those ranked in the top five.

Ellenberger is a welterweight destroyer with heavyweight punching power. Since bursting onto the UFC scene in 2009, the Omaha, Neb. native has finished four out of six fights and has done so in vicious fashion.

His lone Octagon defeat was a somewhat controversial split decision loss to current No. 1 contender Carlos Condit at UFC Fight Night 19.

That fight was Ellenberger’s Octagon debut and on numerous occasions he came close to adding Condit to his list of finished victims.

At UFC 137, Condit will challenge St-Pierre for the title and Ellenberger isn’t far away from facing the winner. Condit is certainly a threat to the champion but Ellenberger is St-Pierre’s true nightmare.

St-Pierre should, in all likelihood, be able to put Condit on his back and do what he has done in all of his recent title defenses, grind out a decision. He won’t have the same luxury with Ellenberger and if you find that statement to be absurd you will be proven wrong soon enough.

In addition to his powerful striking arsenal, Ellenberger is also regarded for being one of the most explosive wrestlers in the entire sport.

Of course, St-Pierre has out-wrestled fighters with far superior NCAA credentials than Ellenberger in the past, but that doesn’t guarantee that Ellenberger will suffer the same fate.

Just the opposite is true because Ellenberger is much quicker than any wrestling-based fighter that St-Pierre has ever competed against.

Ellenberger is that frightening matchup for St-Pierre that was previously thought to be non-existent. In the video packages for St-Pierre’s last few fights, the UFC has hyped his challengers as legitimate threats even though it was clear that they were outmatched even before the fights began.

This is a different circumstance. This isn’t fight-hype, this is real. Ellenberger is a fighter that you can actually believe would hurt St-Pierre and put the untouchable champion in danger. If it took Ellenberger just 53 seconds to put Shields away, imagine what he would be able to do to St-Pierre in a 25 minute title fight.

A former United States Marine, Ellenberger comes to fight whereas St-Pierre just simply comes to win. There’s nothing wrong with St-Pierre’s approach, but in a kill or be killed environment, Ellenberger would survive where St-Pierre would falter.

St-Pierre excels at dictating the pace of his fights, but when he is unsuccessful at doing just that, he crumbles. It has been a very long time since we’ve seen St-Pierre hurt or even frustrated for that matter and it’s very possible we will see him in both situations against Condit, but with Ellenberger it would be a guarantee.

No disrespect to Condit, but Ellenberger is the man to put an end to St-Pierre’s dominant reign as welterweight champion. When St-Pierre tosses and turns in his sleep, he’s thinking about Ellenberger’s knockout power.

For his sake, hopefully the nightmare doesn’t come true.

Mitch Ciccarelli is the sexiest columnist in MMA. In addition to being the longest running featured columnist in B/R MMA history and being the host of the edgy podcast MMA Mass Debation, Ciccarelli is also currently serving in the United States Air Force. Follow him on Twitter @mitchciccarelli.