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Jose Aldo Wants to Fight Cruz, Edgar

2K views 23 replies 13 participants last post by  Ddog0587 
#1 ·
http://espn.go.com/blog/mma/post?id=3024

Jose Aldo currently sits alone atop the featherweight division, but the UFC’s second-youngest champion has a dream: a possible move in weight that could result in a super-fight against a fellow UFC champ, such as Frankie Edgar or Dominick Cruz.

Aldo, 24, has already verbally agreed to make his next title defense against Kenny Florian, who earned the shot in his 145-pound debut by outpointing world-ranked Diego Nunes. After that, however, if desired by the UFC and agreed upon by his management, Aldo says he’d be more than happy to shift in weight.

“It’s not only about my wishes,” Aldo explained to Sherdog.com. “My coach, Andre Pederneiras, and managers Ed Soares and ‘Joinha’ [Jorge Guimaraes] are also involved, so it has to come from them, as well as from [UFC President] Dana White and [matchmaker] Joe Silva. I’m a fighter; I’ve gotta do my job well and always try to give the crowd a show. If it was only about my wishes, I’d love to move my weight up and down to fight, but I’m confident when they believe it’s a good time, I’ll be asked to face this new challenge.”

Aside from taking part in his own, Aldo also showed himself to be generally in favor of super-fights, admitting that he would like to see middleweight king Anderson Silva take on light heavyweight champ Jon Jones, or Silva against welterweight ruler Georges St. Pierre.

“I’m in favor of that because I think the promotion, the public and the media would gain a lot with [super-fights],” the Nova Uniao fighter opined. “A lot of fans want to see champions fight champions from other divisions. If people could find a way to make that, to get a consensus, I think there’s a place for that in the UFC. For me, as I said, it would be a dream come true to test myself between the lighter weights.”

Before any move, though, Aldo must defend his crown against Florian. After six weeks away from training, the champion is getting back to perfect shape. Now completely healed is the shoulder injury which he discovered after his five-round battle with Mark Hominick at UFC 129.

“I’m just waiting on the date [to face Florian],” said Aldo. “I returned to my training routines after a good period of rest, and I’m getting back into shape with boxing, jiu-jitsu and muay Thai. I’m not exactly focused on Florian. I’ll wait to be, like, seven weeks out from the fight to figure out a strategy to beat him.”
This sounds GREAT to me! I love Aldo's attitude of supporting superfights and if he beats Florian i would definitely want to see him fight Frankie or Maynard (whoever is the champ). I believe Aldo will be the first in UFC history to hold two belts simultaneously!
 
#4 ·
I disagree with that. The UFC allowed BJ Penn to fight GSP for the Welterweight Title even when he already had the Lightweight Belt. This shows a precedent of the UFC allowing the possibility of a two-weight champion.
Also, I dont think tying up the divisions would be a problem in Aldo's case because if he beats Florian then there aren't any true contenders left to challenge him at Featherweight anyway. Aldo could spend more time defending his LW belt while the FW division works itself out and continues to grow/produce challengers for him.

I say more power to him, and if he's capable he can even shoot for 5 fights per year: 2 featherweight defenses and 3 lightweight defenses. Obviously this is a stretch but it's not impossible or unheard of, as long as he stays healthy it could be done.
 
#19 ·
I think both Maynard and Edgar would beat him but for different reasons. Edgar moves too much to get teed off on with those leg kicks and is slick with his takedowns. That element of "is he about to drop me on my ass" would probably throw Aldo off enough for Edgar to land some shots. I don't think Edgar would finish him but I see him taking the solid UD.

Maynard I see just bullying Aldo with his wrestling. Very little explanation needed - If Maynard is bigger and stronger than you than you're in a lot of trouble.
 
#14 ·
Aldo would beat them all.

Super fights are great, but not in the UFC the way it currently works. The higher status fighters simply do not fight often enough to have super fights whilst actively defending their belt/making progress in their main division.

Now that the UFC is big, there is so much more to it than just the fights, not in a negative way. But if they want to do these dream fights to please everyone, the wheels in terms of competition need to spin a lot quicker. Fight nights and smaller events should incorporate big names as well, not every show needs to be a huge hyped up spectacle. 8 week maximum turnaround not including suspensions would be great.
 
#20 ·
I hope they let him do it, Move down to BW beat Cruz, defend his belt again at FW and then move to LW and fight the champ there. I think he could do it too, his hardest fight would be at LW of course but i could see him beating alot of top LWs, just depends on whos champ at the time.
 
#21 ·
I don't see the problem with stalling the FW division. The FW division needs to be stalled because there aren't any true contenders after Florian. Aldo can defend his LW belt while the FW division catches up in the meantime and produces a contender every now and then. Even if Aldo only defended his FW belt once in and defended his LW belt 3 times over the course of the year, that would be good enough because the FW division doesnt have any challengers to offer and four fights in one year is not overwhelming or too taxing.

It would be great for the UFC on multiple fronts. First, the UFC could hype the shit out of Aldo and make him a superstar by marketing him as the first double champion in history. Second, this newfound stardom would garner more interest and legitimacy in the featherweight division, which would not only make more fans care about the lighter guys but also make more fighters compete in the FW division which would in turn help it grow and produce more contenders.

Aldo can become MMA's answer to Pacquiao: a foreign lightweight with crazy speed and striking who holds belts in multiple weight classes and draws big attention to the lighter fighters.
 
#22 ·
I disagree... I think it makes a mockery of both the FW and LW division. It basically says between two weight classes, neither can produce a contender to beat one man.

Sure they hype the shit out of Aldo, but in doing so, take a huge dump on the rest of the FW and LW division.

I guess I could also take another avenue here... the LW is already pretty stacked with contenders. You could make a good argument for a lot of guys deserving to have a title shot on their horizon. You're looking at probably another year to year and a half before Aldo should even be offered a shot, otherwise it throws the huge wrench in the division like Edger vs Maynard III and what it did to Pettis.
 
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