Back in April, Jose Aldo made his UFC debut against Mark Hominick at UFC 129 in what was an exciting fight that left Hominick sprouting a second head.According to Aldo, though, there were some behind-the-scenes problems coming into his first defense of…
Back in April, Jose Aldo made his UFC debut against Mark Hominick at UFC 129 in what was an exciting fight that left Hominick sprouting a second head.
According to Aldo, though, there were some behind-the-scenes problems coming into his first defense of his UFC belt.
“I had some trouble making the right weight, but that’s not that unusual,” Aldo said in an interview with Tatame.com. “I had a feet infection due to a cut, that was the problem. One thing led to another, and I was really damaged. There were many things involved, it was my UFC debut, and I can’t lose focus. It was a fantastic fight, a perfect debut on the organization.”
Aldo is now set to face his next challenger, Kenny Florian, in his second title defense in the UFC. Even after Florian, Aldo’s job may not be done if he can get past KenFlo. Undefeated featherweight Chad Mendes may have staked a claim to the next shot at the featherweight belt.
“Both athletes are high level challenges,” said Aldo. “I don’t believe they’re the last challengers I’ll have. Featherweight division is one of the most complicated and tough classes in UFC. Every day they’re new great fighters. I don’t know where these guys come from.”
You can read the full interview with Tatame, here.
For unfunny jokes, MMA news and reaction from events, you can follow me on Twitter: @SalDeRoseMMA.
After recently adding two new weight classes to its organization, the UFC could soon add a flyweight division in the near future. According to BloodyElbow, courtesy of MMAWeekly.com, UFC President Dana White tampered with the idea that fighters wh…
After recently adding two new weight classes to its organization, the UFC could soon add a flyweight division in the near future.
According to BloodyElbow, courtesy of MMAWeekly.com, UFC President Dana White tampered with the idea that fighters who are competing at 125 lbs could find a new home in the UFC sooner than later.
Some of the fighters in the lower divisions have become renowned for putting on exciting bouts for fans and some have already become prominent names in their respective divisions.
UFC Featherweight champion Jose Aldo, Urijah Faber and UFC Bantamweight champion, Dominick Cruz.
In fact, when asked about the new division, White said there was a distinct possibility that some fighters would drop to that weight class in order to add some depth. It has been a common occurrence in the past.
“Kenny Florian fought at 185 the first season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter,’ so yeah, you’ll see guys move down I think,” he said.
“You might even see guys who are world champions like Frankie Edgar move to ’45. It makes sense, not saying he is, but it would make sense.”
The idea of including another weight class would not only do wonders for the UFC in terms of talent development, but also marketability. Although some fighters, like Cruz and Aldo, haven’t necessarily won over every fan momentarily, there could be more cause for concern if there is no development in the flyweight division.
Therefore the transition would make sense and fans would see some of the top fighters spread out into different divisions to help balance and draw interest in the division.
UFC featherweight champion José Aldo made his MMA debut seven years ago at EcoFight 1 in Amapá, Brazil.
Why it matters:
It’s not the fact that Aldo defeated Mario Bigola in just 18 seconds by soccer-kick KO at the event, it’s that he did it at the age of 17, setting the tone for what would become a dominant career. Bigola retired following the bout and Aldo racked up an impressive 19-1 record, including an undefeated eight-fight tear through the WEC and successful defenses of his WEC and UFC belts.
(Video courtesy of YouTube/CP)
UFC featherweight champion José Aldo made his MMA debut seven years ago at EcoFight 1 in Amapá, Brazil.
Why it matters:
It’s not the fact that Aldo defeated Mario Bigola in just 18 seconds by soccer-kick KO at the event, it’s that he did it at the age of 17, setting the tone for what would become a dominant career. Bigola retired following the bout and Aldo racked up an impressive 19-1 record, including an undefeated eight-fight tear through the WEC and successful defenses of his WEC and UFC belts.
(Video courtesy of YouTube/ThiagoSilva187)
Aldo has been mentioned in the same breath as MMA greats like Anderson Silva, George St-Pierre and Fedor Emelianenko when discussing the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport. Having run through the best fighters the WEC had to offer and getting close to doing the same in the UFC, a jump up to 155 may be in “Scarface’s” near future.
Kevin “The Monster Randleman was born 40 years ago in Sandusky, Ohio.
Why he matters:
(Video courtesy of YouTube/hayes9000)
A two time Division I NCAA Champion for Ohio State, in his prime, Randleman was one of the most dangerous fighters in MMA. He holds wins over Murilo “Ninja” Rua, Renato “Babalu” Sobral, Maurice Smith and Mirko “CroCop” Filipovic, but is perhaps best known for the back-and-forth wars he came up short in. His gruelling 21-minute split decision loss to Bas Rutten at UFC 20, last minute TKO loss to Randy Couture at UFC 28 and Pride 2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix quarterfinal loss to Fedor Emelianenko did little to tarnish Randleman’s impressive career as he seemed close to finishing each opponent at various times in those bouts. Unfortunately his highlight-reel suplex slam of Emelianenko that nearly knocked out the Russian ended with him tapping out to a kimura moments later.
It has been over six months since the Zuffa folded the WEC into the UFC and officially introduced the bantamweights and featherweights into the octagon. Yet despite a great amount of talent at these new weights, the promotion is still treating them as …
It has been over six months since the Zuffa folded the WEC into the UFC and officially introduced the bantamweights and featherweights into the octagon. Yet despite a great amount of talent at these new weights, the promotion is still treating them as second-class divisions that are beneath its traditional weight classes.
On August 10 the UFC will be airing a live broadcast on cable television for hundreds of thousands of viewers. On the card will be Joseph Benavidez vs Eddie Wineland. The two fighters are both former world champions and Benavidez is ranked second or third in the world on most top-10 lists. While Brian Bowles vs Urijah Faber is going to determine the next challenger to the bantamweight title, this match puts the winner right in line behind them.
Those hundreds of thousands of viewers? Not a single one is going to see this fight. It isn’t being shown.
A fight essentially equivalent to Rashad Evans vs Tito Ortiz, which headlined the last UFC pay-per-view, has been deemed not good enough for a TV broadcast spot, an honor often given to reality show quarterfinalist washouts on Ultimate Fighter finales. In fact the fight isn’t even the final preliminary, but rather the second to last, as if to add insult to injury.
It isn’t just contenders matches that get snubbed; the UFC considers even championship bouts in their bantamweight and featherweight divisions to only be supporting fights. When Jose Aldo defended his UFC featherweight championship for the first time, it was as a lead-in to the welterweight championship fight. This wasn’t just a one-time thing: his next defense will be playing second fiddle on the UFC 136 card to the main event lightweight championship fight.
It is true that bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz defended his UFC title for the first time as the main event of UFC 132. Yet this was because of the star power of the challenger, Urijah Faber, not out of respect for the weight class. Cruz’s next defense? It will be the main event…of a card on television.
Would Georges St-Pierre, Anderson Silva or Jon Jones ever defend their title on a free card? Of course not. Their championship titles have too much prestige for that. Yet the lighter weight classes are considered to be second-rate compared to these more important divisions.
There doesn’t seem to be a good reason for this. Three possibilities come to mind: the divisions aren’t well known, the main fighters aren’t popular, or the talent isn’t good enough.
The argument that casual fans of the UFC aren’t acquainted well enough with these new weight classes would help explain why Cruz’s next defense needs to be seen on television for free. This seems dubious as Cruz already scored Fight of the Night while beating superstar Faber on a main event of a pay-per-view, but is possible.
Yet that doesn’t explain why future contender’s match Benavidez vs Wineland wouldn’t be on the Versus card this weekend, despite being veterans of numerous WEC broadcasts on the exact same channel. If the UFC is worried about people not knowing who the new fighters are, reducing their air time isn’t exactly a brilliant strategy.
As for the fighters being known but simply not popular, it has already been pointed out that Cruz surely gained a ton of momentum in his last event. What about now perennial co-main event fighter Jose Aldo?
Last year at the World MMA Awards Jose Aldo was voted by fans to be Fighter of the Year over Brock Lesnar, Mauricio Rua, Anderson Silva and Frankie Edgar, the latter being the one who will get to be the main event on Aldo’s next card. If constantly-unable-to-finish Georges St-Pierre and hit-or-miss-performance Anderson Silva can get guaranteed main event status every time, there is no reason why Cruz and Aldo shouldn’t be able to get the same.
The only remaining answer is that the talent isn’t that good, and this doesn’t hold up. The bantamweight and featherweight fighters haven’t had trouble winning their fair share of post-fight bonuses, and indeed the champions both got Fight of the Night in their last performance.
Most pound-for-pound rankings list Jose Aldo as third in the world, behind only St-Pierre and Anderson Silva, while Cruz ranks not far behind in the top 10. And looking at rankings by weight, any top-10 list of bantamweights or featherweights will show just as many are UFC fighters as the rankings for any other weight class.
The bantamweight and featherweight divisions may be new to the UFC compared to the traditional weight classes, but over the past few months have more than proved that they are just as talented and exciting. It is time for Zuffa to stop treating its lighter weights as second-class divisions and give them the notoriety and prestige they deserve.
According to FightersOnly.com a movie about current UFC featherweight champion Jose Also is currently in the works.The Director, Afont Poyart, is currently making some final alterations to the script before they commence filming. The film is expected t…
According to FightersOnly.com a movie about current UFC featherweight champion Jose Also is currently in the works.
The Director, Afont Poyart, is currently making some final alterations to the script before they commence filming. The film is expected to be released sometime in 2013.
When asked about the film, Jose Aldo told UOL Esporte:
“It’s a dream, right? My life to turn into a movie, a story…I guess those who don’t know either me or my story, will know a little more through this film that we will make. It will tell a lot of stories that previously are known only to close friends.”
The lead actor has yet to be revealed, but Aldo has been thinking about it and said he would like actor Malvino Salvador to take on the role, telling UOL Esporte:
“I watch so many soap operas and I am a big fan of him. He’s a guy who gives me a good energy. For me, it would be Malvino Salvador.”
Some time ago, it was also announced that a movie about UFC light heavyweight contender Matt Hamill was in the works.
Many mixed martial artists live remarkable and interesting lives before entering the sport, so it’s likely that movies being made about fighter’s lives will be a continuing trend as the sport continues to grow.
Dana White and Tito Ortiz have words, yet again: here. Jose Aldo gettin’ a movie made on him: here. UFC 132: Cruz vs. Faber 2 weigh-ins results: here. Joe Rogan is back on NBC with.
Dana White and Tito Ortiz have words, yet again: here.
Back in April, Jose Aldo made his UFC debut against Mark Hominick at UFC 129 in what was an exciting fight that left Hominick sprouting a second head.
