Tag: Jose Aldo

After the success of the UFC’s last trip to Brazil, they are returning again to the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro Saturday night and bringing a stacked card filled with exciting strikers and submission artists. It will be headlined by UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo.

Aldo will be taking on top contender Chad Mendes, who many consider to be his toughest test to date. In what could be Aldo’s last fight in the 145-pound weight class, he will have to make a statement in his home country and defeat an undefeated fighter in the process.

In the co-main event, former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort will face former welterweight contender Anthony Johnson in a middleweight bout.

Belfort is coming off his first-round knockout victory over Yoshihiro Akiyama, while Johnson was last seen defeating Charlie Brenneman, also by first-round knockout.

During the last UFC card in Brazil, 11 of the 12 bouts ended with a Brazilian emerging victorious. The fighters on this card will be looking to make it perfect this time around.

Complete Weigh-In Results

Main Card

• Champ Jose Aldo (145) vs. Chad Mendes (144)
• Vitor Belfort (186) vs. Anthony Johnson (197)*
• Mike Massenzio (184) vs. Rousimar Palhares  (186)
• Carlo Prater (170) vs. Erick Silva (169)
• Edson Barboza (154) vs. Terry Etim (155)

Preliminary Card

• Sam Stout (155) vs. Thiago Tavares (155)
• Gabriel Gonzaga (250) vs. Ednaldo Oliveira (229)
• Yuri Alcantara (145) vs. Michihiro Omigawa (146)
• Ricardo Funch (170) vs. Mike Pyle (171)
• Felipe Arantes (145) vs. Antonio “Pato” Carvalho (144)

*Fight stipulation: Johnson can’t weigh over 205 by fight time tomorrow; Belfort gets 20 percent of his purse.

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After a wildly successful trip to Brazil in August for UFC 134, the fight promotion made a return to that country a priority. That return will take place on Saturday, Jan. 14, when the UFC presents UFC 142, a fight card that will see Jose Aldo put his UFC featherweight crown on the line against Chad “Money” Mendes.

Aldo enters the fight with a record of 20-1, with his only loss coming to Luciano Azevedo in November 2005. Since that loss Aldo has run off 13 consecutive victories, including four WEC/UFC title defenses. For his part Mendes is unbeaten in his ten professional bouts, with his last victory being a three round unanimous decision over Rani Yahya.

In the evening’s co-main event, Anthony “Rumble” Johnson will make the jump from welterweight to middleweight to face Vitor Belfort. Both competitors will enter the Octagon on Saturday after knocking out their last opponents. Belfort ended Yoshihiro Akiyama’s night at UFC 133 in 1:52, while Johnson stopped Charlie Brenneman at the 2:49 mark at a UFC Live event in October.

Updated will be added below.

 

Main Card

Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes

Vitor Belfort vs. Anthony Johnson

Mike Massenzio vs. Rousimar Palhares

Carlo Prater vs. Erick Silva

Edson Barboza vs. Terry Etim

Preliminary Card

Sam Stout vs. Thiago Tavares

Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Ednaldo Oliveira

Yuri Alcantara vs. Michihiro Omigawa

Ricardo Funch vs. Mike Pyle

Felipe Arantes vs. Antonio “Pato” Carvalho

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According to Espn.go.com, Anthony Johnson and Chad Mendes claim that Vitor Belfort and Jose Aldo are under pressure to perform in the UFC 142 Brazil event, which gets underway this weekend.

“I feel no pressure at all,” Johnson said. “I don’t have to perform in front of my home country. I don’t get nervous about what could happen. I’m just going to do what I do.”

For Belfort, the former UFC light heavyweight champion, this will be his second time fighting in the presence of his home crowd since he last set foot there back in October of 1998, when he TKO’d Wanderlei Silva in the inaugural UFC Brazil event.

Johnson, a former welterweight contender who recently moved up to the 185-lb division due to problems cutting weight, is highly aware of the threat that Belfort poses, but nonetheless is undaunted by the what lies ahead of him in the co-main event.

“Vitor is an amazing athlete, very fast hands and very powerful, and you have no choice but to respect him,” Johnson said. “I’m not afraid, and I’m willing to accept the challenge. I’m just going in to fight. There’s no strategy. It’s what’s called ‘get it done’,” Johnson said.

On the other hand, this will be the first time that Belfort’s compatriot, UFC featherweight champion Aldo, will be fighting in his homeland of Brazil under the banner of the Zuffa-based promotion.  

With that being the case, Mendez, a California resident and NCAA Division-I wrestler, senses the expectation to perform rests largely on the shoulders of Aldo when they clash in the main event this Saturday weekend.

Also, as well as harboring thoughts of leaving Brazil victorious, he also feels at ease with regards to the fight itself and the hometown support that will be channeled towards Aldo.

“I have tunnel vision,” the challenger said. “I have that goal of winning that belt. It’s all I’m thinking about. I think I’m going to get booed as it’s Jose’s back yard, and he’s the champion. But I can’t speak Portuguese so I can’t understand what they say anyway. I’m in the zone and there’s not going to be any problem.”

UFC 142 is set for Jan. 14, 2012 at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

 

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