If he had a choice, Jose Aldo would likely love to compete in his native Brazil for every fight. His home country has been the scene of some of his greatest triumphs, including his first-round TKO of Chad Mendes at UFC 142 in Rio de Janeiro. But for hi…
If he had a choice, Jose Aldo would likely love to compete in his native Brazil for every fight. His home country has been the scene of some of his greatest triumphs, including his first-round TKO of Chad Mendes at UFC 142 in Rio deJaneiro.
But for his upcoming superfight against the Rocky Balboa of MMA, Frankie Edgar, he’s returning to another familiar territory—Las Vegas, Nevada:
“I would have liked it to be in Brazil because of the fan factor. Everybody rooting for us is a very important factor,” Aldo told MMA Junkie. “But Las Vegas is going to be great. I know there’s going to be a very large fanbase, and of course I grew up watching all the boxing fights in Las Vegas. It has a special charm in it for me.”
Edgar, who relinquished his 155-pound title to Benson Henderson in a closely-fought contest in February last year, is dropping down to featherweight for the first time. Both he and Aldo are, in their own rights, considered two of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, and their meeting is being promoted as a superfight.
The fact that it’s taking place over Super Bowl weekend in early February holds special significance for the Brazilian.
“The Super Bowl is a very important championship,” Aldo said. “The whole world is tuned in. For me to be able to fight on that weekend is absolutely amazing.”
Still, he is unlikely to meet the same kind of rapturous and overwhelming support in the stadium in Vegas as he did in his fight against Mendes last year. In that fight, after finishing his opponent, the jubilant Aldo ran into the arms of a 12-thousand strong crowd in an unprecedented scene, marking his 21st career victory.
The UFC was, initially, eager to revisit that site for the Edgar fight, having lined up Rio de Janeiro once again for their contest at UFC 153 this past October. But a motorcycle injury in September left Aldo sidelined for months, and the new venue of Las Vegas, where Aldo captured the WEC featherweight title in 2009, had been booked.
There is no doubt that, despite the travelling Brazilian fans, Vegas will be more hostile territory. Edgar is a fan favourite, and he will likely be carried through the night by a partisan crowd.
Last month, Mark Hominick announced that “The Machine” has been unplugged. The Canadian striker ended his ten-year MMA career with a record of 20-12, including nine wins by KO/TKO, seven by submission, and three Fight of the Night awards during his stint in the WEC and UFC.
A former kickboxer, Hominick submitted Yves Edwards in his first Octagon appearance in 2006, and later collected victories over such notables as Jorge Gurgel, Bryan Caraway, Yves Jabouin, and Leonard Garcia. An impressive first-round TKO win over former Team Tompkins teammate George Roop in January 2011 was Hominick’s fifth win in a row, making him a fast-rising star in the UFC’s new featherweight division, and earning him a title shot against champion Jose Aldo.
Today, Hominick is the proud father of a one-and-a-half-year-old daughter — he and his wife have another girl on the way — and he is putting his experience and skill to good use at the Adrenaline Training Center in London, Ontario, Canada. He and fellow Shawn Tompkins protégé Chris Horodecki started the gym about four years ago and are working closely with Adrenaline’s burgeoning pro fighters. Hominick says he is also excited about the possibility of working as part of UFC Canada.
Just a few weeks after hanging up his little gloves, Mark “The Machine” Hominick spoke with CagePotato.com about the very best opponents he faced across a number of categories…
Strongest:Jose Aldo. It was like he had two fists in one. When he hit with his right hand, he hit like a heavyweight. And his explosiveness, that was the biggest difference, I noticed. I’m normally good with distance and being able to fade from a shot, but he can close the distance with not just speed, but with power.
Fastest:Yves Jabouin. I fought him at WEC 49. It was Fight of the Night and one of the best fights of the year. It was just a back-and-forth battle. Speed is where I normally have the advantage, and I felt he almost matched me there. It was like I was fighting a mirror image.
(Photo courtesy of Getty Images)
Last month, Mark Hominick announced that “The Machine” has been unplugged. The Canadian striker ended his ten-year MMA career with a record of 20-12, including nine wins by KO/TKO, seven by submission, and three Fight of the Night awards during his stint in the WEC and UFC.
A former kickboxer, Hominick submitted Yves Edwards in his first Octagon appearance in 2006, and later collected victories over such notables as Jorge Gurgel, Bryan Caraway, Yves Jabouin, and Leonard Garcia. An impressive first-round TKO win over former Team Tompkins teammate George Roop in January 2011 was Hominick’s fifth win in a row, making him a fast-rising star in the UFC’s new featherweight division, and earning him a title shot against champion Jose Aldo.
Today, Hominick is the proud father of a one-and-a-half-year-old daughter — he and his wife have another girl on the way — and he is putting his experience and skill to good use at the Adrenaline Training Center in London, Ontario, Canada. He and fellow Shawn Tompkins protégé Chris Horodecki started the gym about four years ago and are working closely with Adrenaline’s burgeoning pro fighters. Hominick says he is also excited about the possibility of working as part of UFC Canada.
Just a few weeks after hanging up his little gloves, Mark “The Machine” Hominick spoke with CagePotato.com about the very best opponents he faced across a number of categories…
Strongest:Jose Aldo. It was like he had two fists in one. When he hit with his right hand, he hit like a heavyweight. And his explosiveness, that was the biggest difference, I noticed. I’m normally good with distance and being able to fade from a shot, but he can close the distance with not just speed, but with power.
Fastest:Yves Jabouin. I fought him at WEC 49. It was Fight of the Night and one of the best fights of the year. It was just a back-and-forth battle. Speed is where I normally have the advantage, and I felt he almost matched me there. It was like I was fighting a mirror image.
Toughest Chin:Hatsu Hioki. We fought for five rounds [at TKO 28 in February 2007]. I hit him with some big shots, and he just kept coming.
Heaviest Hands:Jose Aldo was the first guy to really drop me in my career. I fought 25 kickboxing bouts, never got dropped — ever — and he dropped me, I think, three times in the fight. That’s how hard he hits.
Best Wrestler: Mike Brown.I fought him when I was 19 years old in a small show; I think it was in a square cage — one of those types of shows. I don’t think I even knew how to spell wrestling, let alone wrestle competitively. The pressure and skill he had was something I’d never seen before.
Best Defense:Hioki again. He’s very durable, very calculating. I kept pushing the action the whole time, and he kept coming back. That’s the kind of battle I win — the war of attrition, especially in a five-round bout — but he stayed with me the whole bout.
Best Leg Strikes: Aldo. I mean, he’s one of the best leg kickers in the game, no matter what weight class. He’s got the hips that people talk about; he can turn over those hips very fast.
Most Dangerous Submissions:Rani Yahya. He’s an Abu Dhabi world champion. I trained with him before the bout, so I knew how good he was on the ground. It was one of those fights where, if it was on the feet, I was going to knock him out, and if it was on the ground, he was going to submit me. And we both knew that.
Most Surprising Opponent: “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung. It was only a seven-second bout, but I didn’t think he had the power in his hands to knock anyone out. I had seen some of his bouts where he was in wars, trading punches — giving and taking — and he didn’t put anyone down.
Best game plan: Pablo Garza. I never thought in a million years that he’d take me down and try to hold me down for two rounds of the bout. I didn’t think he’d be able to take me down, first off, and from there keep me down.
Best Win: My most dominant win was against George Roop. There was a lot on the line. I knew going into that bout that if I won that, I’d be getting the Aldo title shot, so there was a lot of pressure. I went out there and really made a statement by knocking him out in the first round.
Worst Loss: How I ended my career, I guess. I fought for over eleven years and to go out on those terms…But I guess that’s what happens in a career, you know? It’s hard to end on a high note.
Best Overall: Aldo, there’s no question. He’s one of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters, and he shocked me a bit by throwing in his wrestling. He’s one of the best for a reason.
For past installments of our “Unforgettable” series, click here.
UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo is one of the most dominant active champions in the sport, but he still isn’t satisfied. He’d like to win UFC gold in two other weight classes before he calls it a career. “Scarface” said as much in a recent in…
UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo is one of the most dominant active champions in the sport, but he still isn’t satisfied. He’d like to win UFC gold in two other weight classes before he calls it a career.
“Scarface” said as much in a recent interview with MMA Junkie, first explaining that a victory over Frankie Edgar, a former lightweight title holder, would show he is ready to clash with the best 155-pounders in the world.
Once I beat Frankie Edgar, I’m sure that I can prove that I can fight one notch above … Certainly I believe that I’m ready, but ‘Dede’ believes that I’m still too young, and so he’s keeping me back. But I think I’m fully capable of fighting one category above.
A few days ago, Andre “Dede” Pederneiras, the head coach of the Nova Uniao gym, told MMA Junkie Radio he expects Aldo to be competing in the lightweight division regularly in one year.
Worth noting is the fact that in 22 professional fights, Aldo’s only loss came while competing as a lightweight all the way back in Nov. 2005.
Since then, the Brazilian has rattled off 14 consecutive wins as a featherweight.
Given that Aldo hasn’t faced a true challenge at 145 pounds in ages, it’s no shock that he is considering bumping up a weight class in the foreseeable future.
However, few fans can honestly say they expected the 26-year-old to declare that he wants to test the waters of the bantamweight division to become the first three-division champion in UFC history.
I have made that weight once, and it has been a dream of mine to win three titles. Nobody has beaten that record yet. Andre knows that’s a dream of mine, but he controls my career, so it all depends. Someday I hope to achieve that. I’d like to make history … For a fight for the title, I could make 135 pounds. I’m not saying it would be easy. It would be difficult, but I think I could do it.
Edgar and Aldo face off with the featherweight title on the line at UFC 156 on Feb. 2 of next year.
Also in the interview, Aldo states that he walks around at around 170 pounds, so dropping down to 135 pounds sounds like nothing short of a small miracle.
In UFC history, only two fighters have won titles in two different weight classes: BJ Penn (lightweight and welterweight) and Randy Couture (light heavyweight and heavyweight).
Could Aldo be the first UFC fighter to wear gold in three separate divisions, or is this a goal far too lofty for any active fighter to achieve?
Love them or hate them, you can’t deny the quality of the action provided by the fights in the lighter weight classes. A look at MMA’s archives will show a number of fights in the featherweight, bantamweight and flyweight divisions that all did their p…
Love them or hate them, you can’t deny the quality of the action provided by the fights in the lighter weight classes. A look at MMA‘s archives will show a number of fights in the featherweight, bantamweight and flyweight divisions that all did their part in highlighting exactly how they hold their own with those of the more established divisions.
Remember how long it took before fans accepted the lightweight division? And remember that they faced similar questions to those encountered by the lighter weight classes? Now, lightweight stands as one of the most talent-rich divisions in the sport, let alone the UFC, and the talent in that one division always produces a number of fights that stand on paper as Fight of the Night candidates for almost every fight card that occurs.
Featherweights, bantamweights and flyweights can produce thrillers of the same cloth, and with time, flyweights for sure will get the recognition that they deserve. However, despite the lack of depth in the division in all three divisions, fans of the sport will do themselves a great justice by embracing these lighter weight classes for more than just the “remember when lightweights first got on?” argument.
Let the reality sink in about these three divisions if any doubt still exists, especially since many will eventually come to about this matter. Despite the fluctuation of poundage that separates the divisions from each other, the action quality holds the same high level at heavyweight as it holds in the other divisions.
The primary five divisions all needed to establish longevity before fans caught on to what most fight fans already knew, which is that great fights always happen regardless of the weight. Fans catch on to this after witnessing a fight or two in a division, thus causing them to pay attention to the divisions more prominently than they may have done in a previous point in time.
Obviously, it may not help fans to get behind the division if the fights consistently get booked on Fuel TV, FX or okay pay-per-view cards, but considering that a number of cable subscribers enjoy FX on a daily basis, one can make the statement that those subscribers definitely have the necessary means to get themselves interested.
Also, the UFC will aim to garner further interest in their lightest division when flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson makes the first defense of his title against John Dodson at UFC on Fox 6 in Chicago, while Jose Aldo looks to keep a grip on his featherweight title at UFC 156 against Frankie Edgar. The quality of both fights promise exciting firefights and memorable finishes, but will fans embrace these fights before or after they transpire?
They absolutely know how to draw in the casual viewer while changing the mind of the skeptical hardcore fan, so few will find a reason to believe that they cannot embrace these fights.
However, until fans begin to recognize the reasons for why they should embrace these fights, the divisions will take longer to earn their long-overdue respect than they did to make it into the sport’s premier league.
Sooner or later, UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo is moving up to the lightweight division, says Nova Uniao head trainer and one-time UFC veteran Andre Pederneiras.Aldo’s weight cut is notable for being especially torturous on the young f…
Sooner or later, UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo is moving up to the lightweight division, says Nova Uniao head trainer and one-time UFC veteran Andre Pederneiras.
Aldo’s weight cut is notable for being especially torturous on the young fighter, whom Pederneiras claims is still growing, even at 26 years old.
But for Aldo, the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t so far away. During an interview with MMA Junkie Radio (via MMA Junkie), Pederneiras acknowledged that it’ll soon be time to allow Aldo the extra 10 pounds, outlining the current career plan for his prized champion:
Every fight, he wants to fight at 155 pounds. “I don’t want to cut any more weight.” Every day I listen to him about that.
I think for him it’s better to wait a little bit because he’s putting on mass every year. He doesn’t need to put so much mass that he can’t move the same. He’s gaining weight because he’s so young. I don’t want to put pressure on him to gain weight. I prefer to wait maybe one more year.
As MMA Junkie points out, Aldo wouldn’t be a very tall lightweight at 5’7″, but that didn’t stop the even-shorter former UFC champion Frankie Edgar (5’6″) from crawling his way to the top of the 155-pound division over much larger fighters.
Speaking of which, Aldo’s last fight at featherweight could possibly be against Edgar himself, as the two men are slated to face each other at UFC 156 on Feb. 2 in Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay Events Center for Aldo’s featherweight title.
Provided both fighters remain un-injured, it’ll be Aldo’s sixth consecutive title defense (counting his WEC career) and Edgar’s seventh consecutive title fight.
Regardless of the outcome, Edgar expects to remain at featherweight to use his size advantage against the rest of the division.
Frankie Edgar’s head trainer Mark Henry believes his boy, who is due to face Jose Aldo for the featherweight title at UFC 156 early next year, could become the first three-division champion in the promotion’s history. The former lightweight…
Frankie Edgar’s head trainer Mark Henry believes his boy, who is due to face Jose Aldo for the featherweight title at UFC 156 early next year, could become the first three-division champion in the promotion’s history.
The former lightweight champ lost his 155-pound belt in a close contest to Ben Henderson earlier this year and has since been parachuted into a title fight against reigning 145-pound champ Jose Aldo.
However, Henry told MMA Weekly Radio (H/T MMA Mania), that his ambitions won’t stop there.
“He is one of the best true pound-for-pound fighters that isn‘t afraid to go up in weight classes. He’ll fight anybody anytime,” said Henry. “Two weight classes up, one weight class up.”
“For me, I’d love for him to take a shot, I mean, we definitely have to worry about Jose now, it’s the only thing, that’s our thing right now. But, I think he can be the first guy with three belts you know? I think if it’s for history, I think if Frankie beats Jose, I think it’s hard to deny that he is one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world if he won three.”
Edgar’s been an undersized lightweight throughout his entire career, fighting in the days when there was no 145-pound division. That didn’t stop Edgar, though. He became the 155-pound champion in 2010 after defeating the legend BJ Penn.
But at 5’6″ he’s even smaller than Aldo who fights at a whole division below him, so the possibility of him dropping down even further to fight at 135-pounds isn’t that outlandish.
There’s been two two-division title holders in the UFC’s history—Randy Couture held the heavyweight and light heavyweight title while Penn was a former lightweight and welterweight champion.
However, a three-division champion has been unheard of, and if he does manage to hold both the featherweight and bantamweight titles at the same time, it’d be hard to argue against him as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
“Frankie’s fought guys that are way heavier than him. If Frankie was to go for two belts, three belts, I don’t know how you can deny him,” added Henry. “It’s something special. You don’t see something like that, I mean, nobody’s ever done it and weight wise it could be done. So, of course, it’s going to be in the conversation, something to throw around and talk about.”
Love them or hate them, you can’t deny the quality of the action provided by the fights in the lighter weight classes. A look at