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Jose Aldo Headlines UFC 149 in Calgary, Dana White Promises ‘Sick’ Card

3K views 26 replies 14 participants last post by  No_Mercy 
#1 ·
Who's going...

Who will he be facing...any guesses...


UFC president Dana White announced that featherweight champion Jose Aldo will headline UFC 149 in Calgary on July 21.


“The headliner here will be Jose Aldo. He’ll be defending his title here,” said White during a press conference in Calgary on Wednesday.


One side of the UFC 149 main event is in place, but Aldo’s opponent will be named at a later date.


“We don’t know that. This card is still so far away, we’re working on it,” answered White when asked who Aldo will face.




It will be the fourth UFC title defense for Aldo, who sits atop the 145-pound rankings and near the top of most pound-for-pound lists.


Aldo’s opponent and other featured bouts on the card will be announced as bout agreements are signed, but the UFC president promises a UFC 149 will be a “good one.”


“You know I want to bring a sick card here. We’re going to bring a good one here to Calgary, I promise.”


http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news;_y...ug=mmaweekly-c3ad219be26827b82a638761ad226cc7

UPDATE:

UFC KICKS OFF SERIES OF EVENTS WITH CALGARY IN JULY!

It’s become almost impossible to argue with UFC President Dana White’s stance that Canadian fight fans are the best in the world.

The Octagon’s love affair with the Great White North began on April 19th, 2008, with a UFC 83 event headlined by a welterweight title fight between Matt Serra and Georges St-Pierre. Over the past four years, the UFC has held eight events in Canada, in three different cities (Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver), with over 200,000 fans in attendance, and a live gate totaling over $40 million. White’s declaration that Canada is the “new Mecca of mixed martial arts” will be a self-fulfilling prophecy, as the UFC announced the Octagon will be crossing into Canadian territory three times in 2012, including an inaugural event in “The Heart of the New West”: Calgary.

Wednesday, White and Director of Operations for UFC Canada Tom Wright held a press conference in “The Stampede City” to not only address Calgary’s UFC 149 date on July 21st at the Scotiabank Saddledome, but to disclose two additional Canadian shows this year and a promised three return visits in 2013. On hand for this momentous occasion were local UFC favorites Jason MacDonald, Mitch Clarke, and Nick Ring. Also, two of Canada’s biggest cagefighting stars, Mark Hominick and UFC welterweight champion St. Pierre attended live via satellite.

Even though UFC 149’s slate of fights have yet to be determined because it’s still four months away, White was fully prepared to whet the fans’ appetite with a mere mention of one man. “Jose Aldo will be defending his title here,” asserted White to a deafening roar from the crowd that the UFC’s featherweight championship belt will be contested in their fair city. “Just from the turn out today, you know I want to bring a sick card here. We always deliver good fights. I'm so pumped to come back up here with a sick card and blow the doors off that arena.”

If all goes accordingly, UFC 149 should also host a retirement match for middleweight “The Athlete” MacDonald. In December of 1999, MacDonald began his professional MMA career in Calgary with an armbar submission win. With a 26-15 overall record that includes 13 Octagon appearances, MacDonald is scheduled to meet Tom Lawlor on May 15th at UFC on FUEL TV 3 in Fairfax, Virginia. Regardless of the outcome, the resident of the Alberta province would like his farewell fight to be in front of these especially ravenous fans.

“If I had a dollar for everyone who has texted me and called me in the past two weeks who wanted tickets I wouldn't need to fight,” jokes MacDonald. “Every time I travel to the UFC, it is a plane full of people from Calgary. Hopefully I will retire from the UFC at the Calgary show. It is special for me.”

The second Canadian event will be UFC 152 on September 22nd in Toronto. There are even scarcer details surrounding the show in the nation’s largest city, but, not to worry, in 2011 alone three UFC weight divisions defended their belts in Toronto: 145, 170, and 205 pounds. Featherweight top contender Hominick took time from his training to publicize UFC 152, but “The Machine” is determined to get back to his winning ways on April 21st in Atlanta against Eddie Yagin. “I have a task at hand at UFC 145 and I'm going to get the job done.”

The Octagon’s final, and possibly the biggest, Canadian event in 2012 will be UFC 154 on November 17th in Montreal. “Hopefully, I will have the chance to fight in front of my Canadian fans in November,” says St-Pierre, who is unquestionably the biggest name in the sport, let alone Canada, and is currently rehabbing his surgically repaired ACL. “Even though I'm feeling 100% right now, I'm halfway through my rehab and I cannot push too much. I'll be training full out around July.”

Everyone has their fingers crossed, including and especially White and St-Pierre, that the UFC welterweight champ’s rehab and return to full-time training go perfectly for “Rush” to fight at UFC 154 in a title unification bout against interim champion Carlos Condit. St-Pierre’s last match was last April against Jake Shields at the historic UFC 129 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. Following that, he was injured leading into scheduled meetings with Condit and then Nick Diaz, which led to GSP getting surgery, Diaz fighting Condit for the interim belt in February at UFC 143, and Condit being crowned interim champion. St-Pierre’s goals are simple and clear, “Right now, I'm focusing on my knee; after that, I am focusing on getting my title back.”

After four years of great fights and even greater fans, Canadians are being rewarded for their insatiable desire for caged fisticuffs with three UFC events this year and three more in the next. Starting off this MMA madness will be the groundbreaking UFC 149 pay-per-view in Calgary with the headlining human highlight reel Aldo putting his UFC featherweight championship belt up for grabs. If that wasn’t enough for the US’ Northern neighbors, the UFC will return for the 3rd time to Toronto with UFC 152 and mark its fifth time in Montreal with UFC 154.

You’re welcome, Canada.

http://www.ufc.ca/news/Whoa-Canada-UFC-Kicks-Off-Series-of-Events-with-Calgary-in-July
 
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#3 ·
Im going with the winner of Siver vs Nunes (April 14, 2012)

Unless the Ufc has signed some unreported talent,

Hioki already said he wasn't ready,

Hominick has lost 2 in a row,

Poirer vs Jung (May 15, 2012) is too quick of a turn around
 
#4 ·
I think Dana will throw a shed load of money at a big name to fight Aldo here and use Siver/Nunes winner as a back up plan.

Hioki, Piorier and KZ wont be ready. And Aldo facing Nunes or Siver is just not very exciting for a main event of a PPV.

Someone like Tatsuya Kawajiri who has fought for SF LW title and is 2-0 against top competition since dropping to FW would be so easy to market.

On this card i'm also expecting to see Phil Davis Vs Machida, Jon Fitch, Boeck and Rory Mac if he can get a quick turn around.
 
#5 ·
They'll probably throw in some Canadian talent in for the other divisions.

No idea if they're fighting on other cards...just naming random ones off the top.

- Rory
- Jmac
- Stout
- Makdessi
- Bocek
- Grant
- where's Cote these days
 
#7 ·
It has to be Hioki, he has a big following amongst hardcores and he opened plenty of eyes after that win over Bart.

I'm guessing some combination of Shogun/Machida/Davis/Bader will be the co-main event, maybe even all four of them will end up on this card. Fitch/Shields should be on this too.
 
#14 ·
Things that would blow my mind would be!

Maybe fedor could be signing

Maybe Brock has decided not to retire.

Diaz doesn't get suspended and gets condit rematch.

Jon jones takes a heavyweight challenge

Haha I just don't know!
 
#17 ·
I would be surprised if the UFC didn't bring John Alessio back for the under-card. He's on a three fight win streak right now.

Jordan Mein 'should' be on the card even though he is technically with strikeforce and coming off of a loss.

I'd pull for Jason MacDonald to make this a Alberta triumvirate but I think after the loss to Belcher they would have MacDonald around only as an alternate.
 
#19 ·
Just finished watching the press conference. Hominick butchered the Toronto announcement, Dana gave almost all of the questions up to Tom Wright (who really is knows his stuff), and the satellite delay was a joke. Why they don't just have them join via skype is beyond me. Maybe has something to do with their partnership with facebook.

Also cool that there maybe a fight night in Halifax in the future and a fight for the troops here in Canada.

I think Aldo will be fighting Hioki and maybe they are bringing Henderson-Edgar 2 to Calgary. It's rumored to be this summer. This would be the true main event though.

It'd also be sweet if it was the winner of Rashad/Jones vs Hendo. Since Dana said that the bout was already in the works though, I don't think that's it.
 
#20 ·
Henderson-Edgar 2 won't headline, I think people are sick of Edgar having to fight the same guy twice but that's what happens when you refuse to give 10-7's and put a fight in a place where they decide who the competition based on their faces as opposed to the points scored. My guess is UFC 150 will be Jones/Hendo and Bendo/Edgar 2 with a strong third fight.

Plus the heavier weight classes always headline, unless they had a Bantamweight or Flyweight title fight there's only gonna be one title fight on this one and it doesn't look like that's gonna happen due to the ******* idiotic Australian athletic commission.
 
#25 ·
Dana and Wright said pretty clearly during the presser that ALDO is headlining..so no other belt will be in play since the higher weight-class always headlines.

And a reporter asked about Hendo/Edgar, Dana said No, and reiterated ALDO headlining.

Jones/Evans winner could fight at Ufc 150 / 151, or 152 in September (22nd).

If they are aiming to release tickets 1st week of May, 2/3's of the card including the Main Event, Co-headliner will be known soon enough
 
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