When he left World Extreme Cagefighting as its final featherweight champion, many expected Jose Aldo (19-1) to be the first man not named Urijah Faber to come from the promotion and gain mainstream success in the UFC.
His dynamic striking, engaging personality and seeming invincibility in the 145lbs. realm provided the fuel, all he had to do was put it together.
Booked to fight on New Year’s Day 2011, Aldo had to pull out of his first defense of the newly-created UFC featherweight title due to injury. He was re-booked to defend against Mark Hominick at UFC 129 in Toronto, where the biggest crowd in North American MMA history saw what he was all about.
A five round war against the home favourite Hominick ensued, a memorable scrap that had Rogers Centre bouncing and made both combatants $129,000 richer as a result of matching ‘Fight of the Night’ bonuses.
“It couldn’t have been a much better night. Fighting in the UFC for the first time and defending my title for the first time was great.”
Now, in his second defense—another that was rescheduled due to injury—Aldo will see veteran contender Kenny Florian across the cage. Florian, a longtime staple of the UFC, dropped to featherweight after two failed attempts to win gold at lightweight.
Aldo has great respect for the challenger, and doesn’t take offense to a notion many have that Florian is moving down solely to take his title away.
“It’s a natural transition for Kenny, a lot of guys move up and down in weight. I’m focused on my training, I respect Kenny, I don’t take it personally.”
For Florian, the fight is a chance at cementing his legacy as a champion, instead of the best bridesmaid the UFC has ever seen. Aldo has a legacy of his own to protect, seen by many as a top pound-for-pounder and a man who could reign atop the division for as long as he sees fit.
However, after a video of Aldo’s battle with cutting weight for the Hominick fight recently surfaced online, the possibility that he may elect to compete at a higher weight class seems to be growing more realistic.
“Since I started training martial arts, going back to my jiu-jitsu days, I’ve always been cutting a lot of weight. I’m comfortable now at 25 years old cutting that weight, but there may come a time when I’m older that I have to look at going to lightweight. Right now though, I’m okay cutting the weight. Before [UFC 129] we were working on putting on muscle mass, that might have been why that weight cut was a little bit more.”
Regardless of where his future lies and what his plans are, the violent Brazilian has one task at hand at the moment, that of a very crafty, very talented veteran on October 8. Kenny Florian is no joke for anyone, and Aldo knows what he’s up against.
“I’ve fought taller guys, guys with longer reach. All I can do is expect to impose my gameplan and win the fight.”
The talking is done. All that’s left is to lock the cage door and see which man is better. The champion believes it’s him, and he’ll look to prove it at UFC 136.
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