Aldo vs Pettis "Super Fight" Should it Happen?

Should the Champ vs Champ fight happen? Pros and Cons for both divisions

by Sam Heard @SamHeard_

By now I’m sure the news of the proposed super fight between long time featherweight champion José Aldo (24-1 MMA, 6-0 UFC) and the newly crowned lightweight king Anthony Pettis (17-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) has filtered down to even casual fans of MMA. It’s very difficult not to get carried away with excitement at the prospect of this titanic clash – for too many years now the MMA community has clamoured for a super fight, yet the last time we saw a clash of champions was GSP vs B.J Penn II way back in 2009… However, looking past how intriguing this battle would be, there are quite a few reasons why it might not necessarily be the right time for this fight.

From Anthony Pettis’ end there are some notable obstacles.

It must be remembered that Pettis has only just won his lightweight belt and is yet to make a single defence. There is no shortage of potential contenders in the lightweight division; Gilbert Melendez, Khabib Nurmagomedov and T.J. Grant to name but a few are sniffing after the belt. Surely it would make more sense for Pettis to see off a few of these challengers before super fight discussion can begin? While Aldo has seen off all the competition the featherweight division has to offer in some style, Pettis hasn’t even fought as a UFC champion. It could raise the stakes of a future battle between Pettis and Aldo even more if Pettis gets a few wins under his belt, proving himself to be a champion worthy of a super fight.

Aside from this question over Pettis’ dominance as a champion, there is a far more obvious concern preventing the two meeting in the Octagon. Anthony Pettis is currently rehabbing a serious knee injury. A recent interview with the UFC’s doctor revealed that even expecting the champion to return by July could be an overly optimistic estimation. By committing to the super fight the UFC would be essentially side-lining both champions until Pettis makes a full recovery, putting both the featherweight and lightweight divisions on hold. Also, with heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez out until late in the year, this means the UFC would have three champions out of action and would have far less main-event-worthy fights at their disposal.

There can be no denying that of the two fighters José Aldo is the more ready for a super fight. During his time as the top dog of the UFC and WEC he has cleared out the upper-tier of the featherweight division, so in many ways a move up to lightweight is understandable. He simply needs some more competition...

However, the fate of the featherweight belt if Aldo does indeed move up to 155-lbs is problematic. When Aldo first expressed his interest in the super fight at the post-UFC 169 press conference, Dana was fairly adamant that Aldo will be forced to relinquish his hold of the Featherweight belt, opening the vacant championship position up to a battle between the two top contenders (the same scenario scheduled to take place for the Welterweight championship at UFC 171).

While this battle for the vacant belt – most likely between Chad Mendes and Cub Swanson – would be a killer fight, viewers would be left with a strange aftertaste. The new featherweight champion wouldn’t be the ‘real’ champion. Aldo would still be the champion, at least in the eyes of the people. This new guy would be the fighter who was babysitting Aldo’s belt while he attempted to conquer the lightweight division. There is also every chance Aldo won’t even be willing to give up his belt – it would be a huge gamble to drop one championship belt for the opportunity to potentially gain another. Becoming the champion of another division would certainly put Aldo right into the GOAT discussion though.

The fight seemed to be arranged so easily at the press conference. Dana White simply announced “sounds like we got a fight”, though it is clear that there is a lot more arranging to do before a fight of this scale can be set in stone. Aldo and Pettis were supposed to meet at UFC 163 and it seems pretty obvious their paths are destined to cross at some point – will this happen in 2014? Who knows. When it does happen, expect it to be an incredible battle though.

The Featherweight landscape in the UFC

Whats next for the UFC featherweight division

by Jack Broadey @J3cK_b

If it wasn't already exciting enough the featherweight division just got a whole lot more interesting, complicated even. Most fans knew Frankie Edgar was a top level Featherweight despite him not ever having won at the weight in the UFC and being on a 3 fight losing skid.

He had forced the FW champion to give him all he had and Jose Aldo had the "the answer" to Edgar edging out a super close decision. Edgar finally got back into the win column that he so richly deserved on Saturday night. He beat a game Charles Oliveira in a competitive but clear decision. Oliveira proved he could live with Edgar but couldn't quite get the better of him wherever the fight went. Oliveira is young and can sharpen his skill set and come back again.

Also on Saturday night a fight originally stated for UFC London occurred. Cub Swanson finally got his hands on Dennis Siver. Congratulations have to go to Joe Silva on this one. He stuck to his guns after the original matchup fell apart and he was rewarded for his matchmaking. Again both men delivered with one man standing tall at the end.

Cub Swanson is on quite a tear now. When Anthony Pettis had to pull out of his fight with Jose Aldo many fans felt Swanson deserved the call up. He took his streak to 5 wins in a row and stopping 4 of them on that run. He has stopped George Roop, Ross Pearson, Charles Oliveira and now Dennis Siver. He also earned a decision win over Dustin Poirier in that time. All top competition and Swanson has looked better each and every time he enters the Octagon.

The question that remains locked over his head though is what happened before his hot streak. Ricardo Lamas stopped Swanson 2 years ago at the very 1st Fox event. He's been on a roll of his own ever since and it would be hard to argue that Swanson deserves a title shot over Lamas. Looking slightly further back he holds a decision loss to Chad Mendes, and more importantly a brutal KO loss at the hands of Jose Aldo.

Jose Aldo won by flying double knee KO in just 8 seconds against Swanson. At the top of the featherweight division it is so stacked that it would be hard to sell a rematch between the two. Swanson has two saving factors. The first is he cant seem to stop winning. The second is Aldo has been so dominant he has almost beat all of the top contenders already.

We have Ricardo Lamas, Cub Swanson, Frankie Edgar, Chad Mendes and even Anthony Pettis all as viable contenders at the top of the division. A lot of what happens next rests on Pettis' shoulders. Dana White seems to be quite fond of him and let's be honest who doesn't want to see Aldo-Pettis? Pettis will have a lot of sway on the future of the Featherweight division. There will be many twists and turns to come yet so strap yourself in for what has fast become the most exciting unmissable division in the UFC.