Jose Aldo
Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight title holder José Aldo (21-1) is rumored to meet Roufusport fighter Erik ‘New Breed’ Koch (13-1) for his next title defense, as part of either UFC 147 in Brazil or UFC 149 in Calgary.
News of the matchup was first reported by MMAWeekly.com, who confirmed that “Koch is the likely candidate” for Aldo’s next title defense with sources close to both fighters.
On Tuesday, UFC president Dana White announced at a press conference in Brazil, that he was working on bringing the 145-lbs champ back to South America for his next fight after the event headliner, a middleweight title match between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen, was being moved to Las Vegas as part of UFC 148.
Aldo was originally expected to appear at UFC 149 in Calgary on July 21, but it’s likely that he’ll defend his belt in his native Brazil for a second straight bout.
No venue or date has been set for UFC 148 as the United Nations is planning a conference around the planned June 23 date for the Brazilian card.
Aldo was last in action on January 14th in Rio de Janeiro, earning a first round knockout over Chad Mendes with one-second left on the clock at the UFC 142 show. It was his third straight UFC title defense, and his fifth straight defense of the WEC/UFC strap.
Koch has won four in a row, with a decision win over Jonathan Brookins last September at UFN 25. ‘New Breed’ had been scheduled to face Dustin Poirier at UFC 143 in February but pulled out do to injury. Koch stopped Raphael Assuncao in his Octagon debut at UFC 128 in March 2011.