The UFC has delivered a legitimate super fight for Super Bowl weekend.
Featherweight champion Jose Aldo will attempt to defend his title for the fourth time under the UFC banner, and he’s guaranteed his toughest test to date against Frankie Edgar.
Edgar is a former UFC lightweight champion in his own right, and is making the cut down to 145 for the first time in his career to attempt to strap a UFC belt back around his waist.
UFC 156: Aldo vs. Edgar will take place in Las Vegas on February 2nd, as announced Tuesday on UFC Tonight.
This fight was originally set to take place at UFC 153 earlier this month, but an injury to Aldo forced the bout to be postponed.
Aldo has dominated each of the fighters the Zuffa brass have put in front of him, and the reigning featherweight champion has gone undefeated during his time in the WEC and UFC with an 11-0 record.
After dispatching Mark Hominick and Kenny Florian in back to back grueling decision wins, Aldo earned the highlight moment of his career in his last bout when he knocked out Chad Mendes with a huge knee as time expired in the first round.
The ensuing celebration that saw Aldo race out of the cage and into his hometown crowd was one of the most memorable moments of the year.
Edgar’s featherweight debut comes on the heels of back to back decision losses to Benson Henderson in February and August of this year. The first loss to Henderson ended Edgar’s lightweight title reign—which featured two straight wins over future Hall of Famer BJ Penn and a couple of barn burners with Gray Maynard (the first of which earned Fight of the Years honors from the World MMA Awards).
UFC 156 will serve as the first numbered PPV event of 2013, and it looks like the UFC is kicking things off in a big way.
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