So much has surrounded UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo and his future plans in the promotion.
Will he stay at featherweight and fend off the division’s core group of contenders?
Will he move to lightweight and challenge titleholder Anthony Pettis for superfight supremacy?
Or will he take his talents to South Beach and former “The Big Four?”
Either way the cookie crumbles, the immediate pallet of featherweight hopefuls will be there to harvest the crumbs.
Title threats like Chad Mendes, Cub Swanson, Dustin Poirier and even Frankie Edgar have all done their own part to separate themselves in a rather tightly knit weight class. Win streaks, flashy finishes and substantially brutal performances have given each one of them good reason to challenge Aldo.
But what if the 27-year-old Brazilian decides to beef up and leap to 155?
Dana White recently explained the 145-pound division’s future title scene on Fox Sports 1’s “Fox Sports Live,” originally reported by MMA Junkie.
“It would probably be—listen, I’m not making a fight announcement here or anything—but what would make sense is Cub Swanson and Chad Mendes would probably be fighting for that title, and Pettis and Aldo would fight at 155,” said White.
Now nothing is set in stone regarding Aldo vs. Pettis considering Aldo’s longtime manager Andre Pederneiras recently stated they wanted a catchweight bout at 150 pounds with no belt on the line.
That serves as an immediate wrench in the gears of a potential superfight since Pettis‘ camp only wants Aldo at 155 or they’ll move on to the next contender, according to Damon Martin of Fox Sports.
So what does that mean for Mendes and Swanson, a pair of fighters who met back in 2010 with “Money” winning by decision?
Simply put, they’re going to have to play the waiting game. Mendes has already had to wait his turn to fight Aldo again since he lost to the champ by first-round knockout at UFC 142, so what’s a few more months?
As for Swanson, who is recovering from elbow surgery, more vacation days may be exactly what the doctor ordered.
In any case, whether it’s Aldo vs. Pettis, Aldo vs. Mendes, Mendes vs. Swanson or Pettis vs. Brock Lesnar, 2014 is destined to be the “Year of the Little Guys.”
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