Jose Aldo is a valuable commodity for the UFC after winning the UFC 156 main event against Frankie Edgar. Aldo, UFC’s featherweight champion, scored arguably the biggest win of his MMA career by warding off Edgar on Feb. 2. But where does he go f…
Jose Aldo is a valuable commodity for the UFC after winning the UFC 156 main event against Frankie Edgar.
Aldo, UFC’s featherweight champion, scored arguably the biggest win of his MMA career by warding off Edgar on Feb. 2. But where does he go from here?
The iron is hot for the 26-year-old Brazilian mixed martial artist. He has an opportunity now to headline more UFC cards and face some of the best competition the sport has to offer.
Those offers have already begun to come.
Let’s take a look at a couple of potential fights for Aldo that will further his career and backup his fearless reputation.
Anthony Pettis, Lightweight
Moments after UFC 156 concluded, UFC president Dana White received a text message from Anthony Pettis claiming he wanted to drop down to 145 to challenge Aldo for the featherweight title, according to the UFC (via Twitter):
Dana says that Anthony Pettistexted him 10 mins ago and said he wants to move down to 145 to fight Jose Aldo at featherweight.
Aldo doesn’t back down from challenges and isn’t about to start now.
“It’s up to Dana, but it’s an interesting fight,” Aldo said (h/t ESPN’s Brett Okamoto). “I train to fight the best. I respect them all. I think Pettis is close to a title shot in his own division.”
Pettis (16-2), who is believed to be next in line for a shot at the lightweight title, is coming off of a UFC on Fox knockout of Donald Cerrone. That win lined him up to be the next in line for the title, pending the result of the Benson Henderson and Gilbert Melendez title bout.
Ricardo Lamas, Featherweight
Featherweight Ricardo Lamas (13-2) is potentially the first in line in the division for a shot at Aldo’s title. He’s coming off four straight wins, including a second-round TKO of Erik Koch on January 26’s UFC on Fox.
White said Lamas would fight another contender if Pettis drops to 145 to challenge Aldo, according to Okamoto. That contender may possible be Chan-Sung Jung.
Chan-Sung Jung, Featherweight
As mentioned, Chan-Sung Jung (13-3) is another top-tier contender in the featherweight division and could be in line for a shot at Aldo in the not-so-distant future.
His last three fights were all wins, his most recent win at UFC on Fuel TV in May 2012. The win, an upset of rising star Dustin Poirier, was named the fight of the year for 2012 by Sherdog.com.
Jose Aldo retained his UFC Featherweight Championship at UFC 156 against Frankie Edgar, and now the search is on for who will attempt to dethrone the champion next.Aldo’s run as champion has been impressive. He was dominant in the WEC and continues tha…
Jose Aldo retained his UFC Featherweight Championship at UFC 156 against Frankie Edgar, and now the search is on for who will attempt to dethrone the champion next.
Aldo’s run as champion has been impressive. He was dominant in the WEC and continues that trend under the bright lights of the UFC.
He stands atop the featherweight world. Other contenders are climbing that mountain but they appear to be a ways down from toppling Aldo at this point. However, in MMA anything can happen, and Aldo needs a challenger.
Here are five potential contenders to Aldo’s featherweight crown.
It’s safe to say that the UFC’s latest trip to the land of major network television succeeded in exceeding most of our expectations. For starters, the event pulled in much higher viewership numbers than most pundits of the sport (and apparently the UFC’s marketing department) ever believed a card topped off by a flyweight fight could do. The fact that the card delivered exciting finishes and entertaining brawls from top to bottom further cemented our belief that the UFC has truly started to hit their stride with Fox. Not that we ever doubted them, but things were looking hairy for a while there *thinks back to UFC on Fox 2, shudders*.
But today, we must gather up last weekend’s results like a herd of slaughtered bison, take to our (ban)wagons, and forge ahead to the river of subjectivity that is the armchair matchmaker (Oregon Trail metaphors. They’re like, so in right now.). So join us after the jump as we breakdown what is next for some of Saturday’s biggest winners.
Demetrious Johnson: Challenger John Dodson might have brought the pop rocks to his first ever UFC title fight, but Demetrious Johnson surely brought the coke. And by coke, I mean cocaine. Because Johnson fights like he’s on…you know what, forget it. The Tazmanian Devil-esque tornado of takedowns known as “Mighty Mouse” is truly something to behold when he enters the octagon, combining a limitless gas tank with a simple will to survive that is unmatched by 90% of his MMA counterparts, flyweight or otherwise.
It’s safe to say that the UFC’s latest trip to the land of major network television succeeded in exceeding most of our expectations. For starters, the event pulled in much higher viewership numbers than most pundits of the sport (and apparently the UFC’s marketing department) ever believed a card topped off by a flyweight fight could do. The fact that the card delivered exciting finishes and entertaining brawls from top to bottom further cemented our belief that the UFC has truly started to hit their stride with Fox. Not that we ever doubted them, but things were looking hairy for a while there *thinks back to UFC on Fox 2, shudders*.
But today, we must gather up last weekend’s results like a herd of slaughtered bison, take to our (ban)wagons, and forge ahead to the river of subjectivity that is the armchair matchmaker (Oregon Trail metaphors. They’re like, so in right now.). So join us after the jump as we breakdown what is next for some of Saturday’s biggest winners.
Demetrious Johnson: Challenger John Dodson might have brought the pop rocks to his first ever UFC title fight, but Demetrious Johnson surely brought the coke. And by coke, I mean cocaine. Because Johnson fights like he’s on…you know what, forget it. The Tazmanian Devil-esque tornado of takedowns known as “Mighty Mouse” is truly something to behold when he enters the octagon, combining a limitless gas tank with a simple will to survive that is unmatched by 90% of his MMA counterparts, flyweight or otherwise.
Unfortunately, the UFC’s flyweight division is thinner than that of its participants, so Johnson’s options are severely limited. Although Tim Elliot made a statement in his dominant win over Jared Papazian at the TUF 16 Finale, the fact that he dropped a unanimous decision to Dodson prior to that means that he is still a win or two away from a shot. The only logical next step for Johnson would be against the winner of the Joseph Benavidez/Ian McCall fight at UFC 156. Johnson has the advantage of having faced both men before (and McCall twice actually) and it’s slim pickings right now for the champ. Who knows? Maybe he can use that advantage to score his first ever finish inside the UFC. Lord knows the flyweight division could use one every know and again.
Glover Teixeira: In what was easily the biggest fight of his budding career, Teixeira stepped up in a big way and did what no man has ever done before: beat the excuses right out of Rampage Jackson. And while that is an impressive accomplishment in and of itself, we don’t think Teixeira should be fast tracked to a title shot in the near future; that kind of privilege is best left for middleweights coming off a loss. Most websites out there are calling for Teixeira to take on the winner of the Rashad Evans/Lil’ Nog scrap, also scheduled for UFC 156, and it’s hard to disagree with that logic. The light heavyweight division has its fair share of viable contenders right now, with everyone from Alexander Gustafsson to Dan Henderson primed for a title shot with a victory in their next contest, so let’s give Glover a little more time to develop before we start dubbing him the #1 contender.
Anthony Pettis: If KO’ing a hard-nosed badass like Donald Cerrone in the first round didn’t make enough of a statement, doing so with an off-the-cage flying knee, a handspring (?) kick, and a liver kick to finish things off surely did. Give “Showtime” his much deserved title shot so we can see more of these shenanigans:
Also, make sure Stephan Bonnar is on announcing duties when Pettis gets said title shot.
T.J. Grant: With his incredibly impressive knockout win over Matt “Don’t Call Me Handsome Anymore” Wiman last weekend, Grant has suddenly established himself as one of the lightweight division’s hottest prospects. It may have taken him a few years under Zuffa’s embrace to pull off, but Grant now finds himself in the position to call out the Jim Millers of the division. Thankfully for us, Grant did just that. Miller is coming off a late Fight of the Year win over Joe Lauzon at UFC 155, and although Grant isn’t exactly a big name yet, a win for either man would send a resounding message to the rest of the lightweight division.
Clay Guida: On the heels of a split decision victory over Hatsu Hioki punctuated by dizzying head movement and top control, Guida proved that he is pretty much capable of doing the same things at featherweight as he did at lightweight. The perfect matchup for Guida at this point would be Nik Lentz, in our opinion. Currently riding a two fight win streak, Lentz is a similarly strong grappler who could possibly negate some of Guida’s hyper-blanket attack and would be a great litmus test for Guida in his newfound home.
So, Potato Nation, are there any matchups you find more relevant than what we’ve put together? Give us a shout in the comments section.
Fighting in front of his hometown crowd Saturday night in Chicago, Ricardo Lamas made a convincing and violent statement in the UFC’s 145-pound class, demolishing Erik Koch, who had only previously been beaten once in his MMA career. Lamas looked like …
Fighting in front of his hometown crowd Saturday night in Chicago, Ricardo Lamas made a convincing and violent statement in the UFC’s 145-pound class, demolishing Erik Koch, who had only previously been beaten once in his MMA career. Lamas looked like an absolute man possessed.
With that in mind, here are some options for his next time out.
When Erik Koch was first booked to face Jose Aldo, it raised some eyebrows. Sure, he was 13-1, but as far as big name wins were concerned, there weren’t any on Koch’s resume.Many felt that Koch had been gifted the booking against Aldo because Hatsu Hio…
When Erik Koch was first booked to face Jose Aldo, it raised some eyebrows. Sure, he was 13-1, but as far as big name wins were concerned, there weren’t any on Koch’s resume.
Many felt that Koch had been gifted the booking against Aldo because Hatsu Hioki turned it down and Chan Sung Jung and Dustin Poirier were scheduled to face each other.
That fight never came to be, as injuries caused it to eventually be scrapped.
Going into UFC on Fox 6, Koch had a lot of pressure on him. He needed to show that he did indeed deserve a shot at the featherweight title, and a win over Ricardo Lamas would have gone pretty far in establishing that point. After all, Lamas was heading into the bout after defeating two tough opponents in Cub Swanson and Hatsu Hioki.
After seven-and-a-half minutes of action, the featherweight division had a new contender. But it wasn’t Koch, it was Lamas, who used some nasty elbows from the top to open Koch up and bring about the TKO stoppage.
The defeat will send Koch back to the drawing board, while Lamas seems to be very close to getting the nod to face the winner of UFC 156’s main event between Aldo and former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar.
When the UFC first began its relationship with Fox, the results were mixed. The first show had only a 64 second fight, and the next two shows – while solid – didn’t do so well in the ratings. Even as the cards themselves picked up on UFC on Fox 4 and 5, the production of the show was excessively drawn out and was tedious to watch at times. But UFC on Fox 6 showed just how good these cards can be. Packed with excellent, violent fights, and backed with the full might of the Fox marketing machine, this card was the first that fulfilled the potential of MMA on network television.
But let’s talk fights, shall we? I know the flyweights aren’t nearly as respected as they should be in some parts of the fight community, but if you’re still in those parts after last night’s performance, do us all a favor, stop reading and get the fuck out. Because what you just witnessed was one of the best, if not the best 5-round title fights in the promotion’s history. In an extraordinarily competitive fight, John Dodson took an early lead off the strength of his…well, strength. He landed a number of monster lefts that were able to knock Demetrious Johnson down, and showed how he is arguably the most exciting fighter in the entire division.
But it was for naught, because what Dodson has in excitement, Johnson has in sheer stamina, will and technique. He roared back in the latter rounds, particularly the championship rounds, delivering innumerable knees to the head, body and legs, mixing in takedowns, and consistently pushing forward. Dodson was unable to keep Johnson’s pace, and in the final round, Johnson unleashed vicious flurries as Dodson backed up. Though he never wilted, Dodson was defeated. Demetrious Johnson remained champion, and was able to deliver one of the better post-fight shout outs you’ll hear. While Benson Henderson may believe all things are possible through Christ (excuse me, “through CHRIST!!!”), Johnson appears to have sided with a more contemporary deity – the Xbox 360.
When the UFC first began its relationship with Fox, the results were mixed. The first show had only a 64 second fight, and the next two shows – while solid – didn’t do so well in the ratings. Even as the cards themselves picked up on UFC on Fox 4 and 5, the production of the show was excessively drawn out and was tedious to watch at times. But UFC on Fox 6 showed just how good these cards can be. Packed with excellent, violent fights, and backed with the full might of the Fox marketing machine, this card was the first that fulfilled the potential of MMA on network television.
But let’s talk fights, shall we? I know the flyweights aren’t nearly as respected as they should be in some parts of the fight community, but if you’re still in those parts after last night’s performance, do us all a favor, stop reading and get the fuck out. Because what you just witnessed was one of the best, if not the best 5-round title fights in the promotion’s history.
In an extraordinarily competitive fight, John Dodson took an early lead off the strength of his…well, strength. He landed a number of monster lefts that were able to knock Demetrious Johnson down, and showed how he is arguably the most exciting fighter in the entire division. But it was for naught, because what Dodson has in excitement, Johnson has in sheer stamina, will and technique. He roared back in the latter rounds, particularly the championship rounds, delivering innumerable knees to the head, body and legs, mixing in takedowns, and consistently pushing forward.
Dodson was unable to keep Johnson’s pace, and in the final round, Johnson unleashed vicious flurries as Dodson backed up. Though he never wilted, Dodson was defeated. Demetrious Johnson remained champion, and was able to deliver one of the better post-fight shout outs you’ll hear. While Benson Henderson may believe all things are possible through Christ (excuse me, “through CHRIST!!!”), Johnson appears to have sided with a more contemporary deity – the Xbox 360.
In the co-main event, Glover Teixeira showed why the hype behind him isn’t a joke. “Rampage” Jackson came out motivated, and despite the snark put forth his way of late, he put up a fight. He mixed in hooks, low kicks, jabs, and had excellent head movement and defense throughout. Was he in the best shape of his life, as he claimed? No. But he presented a serious challenge to Teixeira, who throws mostly hooks, which Jackson excels in defending. And through the first few minutes of the first round, you could make the argument Jackson was winning the fight.
Then Glover decided it was time to use some world class grappling. Jackson’s takedown defense isn’t what it was, but then again, the wrestling in MMA isn’t what it was either. Teixeira transitioned beautifully between single legs, double legs and body locks during his takedowns, and that’s how he was able to drag Quentin down. And when he had him down, that’s where “Rampage” was helpless. He was able to return to his feet each time, save the last, but not before suffering ground and pound and fending off submission attempts.
On the feet, the fight remained competitive, though Glover was able to hurt Jackson at least twice. The best moment of the fight came in the second round, where Jackson and Teixeira engaged in a type of call-and-response boxing exchange, each man trading combinations and daring the other to fell him. It was a surreal test of skill and display of braggadocio from both men, and when Teixeira came on top after landing a serious body shot, you knew that the fight was over.
Jackson’s career in the UFC might be done now, but even in defeat he helped build a challenger – who realized he had to develop a jab against a an opponent with excellent boxing defense – in a division that he helped define for the better part of the past decade. Hopefully, he won’t end up as the next Gary Goodridge, but only time will tell.
I have mixed feelings about the bout between Anthony Pettis and Donald Cerrone. On one hand, I thought this was going to be the most exciting, competitive, back-and-forth fight of the night. (In other words, I thought it was going to be Fight of the Night.) That did not happen. But what did happen… what did happen was Pettis made Cerrone – who possesses arguably the best Muay Thai in the division – look like a nobody. He utterly annihilated him with superior boxing, footwork, a spinning wheel kick (that missed), a knee off the wall and finally a brutal liver kick that probably gave Bas Rutten a spontaneous erection, even if he wasn’t watching the fights. There’s not much to say here – Anthony Pettis deserves, and is getting, the next lightweight title shot after Melendez. He’s also the most exciting striker not named Anderson Silva.
On the first fight of the main card, Ricardo Lamas continued his tear in the featherweight division by brutally dispatching Erik Koch in the second round. After Koch attempted to capitalize on a Lamas slip, only to be taken down, Lamas rained devastation from above, smashing Kock with elbows and punches that opened up a brutal cut, squirting blood of its own accord. Koch, someone who was supposed to challenge Jose Aldo for the featherweight crown, was left with nothing but shattered dreams and blood. Lots and lots of blood. Lamas, on the other hand, might take his place as the next man in line for a shot.
Two notes from the undercard; one, Clay Guida did not deserve to win that fight. Hatsu Hioki, although he was on the bottom for most of the fight, controlled the entire fight with his guard and through submission attempts. He even did more damage than Guida on the feet. Judges continue to overrate takedowns that accomplish little to nothing for the fighter in top position. If it was Minotauro Nogueira on bottom, he’d have won. Because he’s Asian and relatively unknown, he lost. It’s unacceptable. On the bright side, T.J. Grant brought the pain to Matt Wiman. Grant dominated with brilliant Muay Thai before putting Wiman out of his misery with two beautiful standing elbows. Sadly, he didn’t manage to get KO of the Night because of Pettis’ liver kick, but he should get a fight with Jim Miller to find out who truly has the best ginger beard in the division.
Main Card Results
Demetrious Johnson def. John Dodson via UD (48-47 x2, 49-46)
Glover Teixeira def. Quentin “Rampage” Jackson via UD (30-27 x2, 29-28)
Anthony Pettis def. Donald Cerrone via TKO (2:35, Round 1)
Ricardo Lamas def. Erik Koch via TKO (2:32, Round 2)
Preliminary Card Results
T.J. Grant def. Matt Wiman via KO (4:51, Round 1)
Clay Guida def. Hatsu Hioki via SD (29-28, 30-27, 28-29)
Pascal Krauss def. Mike Stumpf via UD (30-27 x3)
Ryan Bader def. Vladimir Matyushenko via SUB (0:50, Round 1)
Shawn Jordan def. Mike Russow via TKO (3:48, Round 2)
Rafael Natal def. Shane Spencer via SUB (2:13, Round 3)
David Mitchell def. Simeon Thoreson via UD (30-27 x3)
Jose Aldo is a valuable commodity for the UFC after winning the UFC 156 main event against Frankie Edgar.
