Two of the most exciting strikers in the world are going to go to war this summer, yet some fans are complaining.
On August 3, at a location yet-to-be determined, UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo will once again put his belt on the line against a lightweight-turned featherweight, this time former WEC lightweight champion Anthony “Showtime” Pettis, who is making the cut to 145 pounds for the contest. Aldo and Pettis are two of the very best strikers in the UFC, and this fight is guaranteed to provide fireworks.
Reaction, on the whole, has been mixed. The camp that likes the bout sees it as an exciting matchup between two elite strikers, as close to a “Super Fight” as you can get in MMA these days.
The camp that doesn’t like the bout seems to be of the opinion that Pettis doesn’t deserve an immediate title shot in a division he hasn’t fought in yet, that it’s not fair for him to jump in front of Ricardo Lamas and Chan Sung Jung for a title shot.
Me, though? I have no problem with this. Yes, I was against giving Chael Sonnen and Nick Diaz title fights with them both coming off of losses (Frankie Edgar was more excusable), but Pettis is simply a different case.
Unlike Edgar, who was coming off of two straight (albeit controversial) losses to UFC lightweight Benson Henderson, Pettis has strung together three straight victories over Donald Cerrone, Joe Lauzon, and Jeremy Stephens, the wins over Cerrone and Lauzon procuring him “Knockout of the Night” bonus money. He really is the true Number 1 contender at lightweight, considering he’s beat Henderson already, but the UFC wants to do a unification bout with former Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez instead. So I have no problem with Pettis dropping to featherweight for the title shot since he doesn’t want to wait.
Yeah, it’s not fair that Lamas and Jung have to wait longer, but that’s part of the game. Recall that Pettis was supposedly guaranteed a UFC lightweight title shot after coming over from WEC, only to see Edgar and Gray Maynard draw at UFC 125 and then lose to Clay Guida in a stay-busy fight in his UFC debut. Since that fight Pettis has worked his way back up the ladder, and he has earned the chance to compete for a UFC title, whatever title it is.
And please, don’t bring up the UFC rankings to justify why this isn’t the right fight to make.
The reason the UFC put this fight together instead of Aldo vs. Lamas or Jung is because they know Pettis vs. Aldo is going to do big bucks at the box office. It’s an amazing fight between the two best talents the WEC ever produced, and the UFC has plenty of highlight-reel footage — think the “Showtime Kick” for Pettis and all of Aldo’s wicked KOs throughout his WEC and UFC career – in order to promote it. It’s a massive fight and once Pettis asked White for it, there was no way the UFC couldn’t make this fight.
The only problem I have with it is the date. I don’t understand why it’s taking place all the way in August when the UFC still has pay-per-views in May, June, and July that need headlining fights. If waiting for April’s Henderson vs. Melendez fight was a concern for Pettis, I’m confused as to why he accepted a fight in August. But maybe the UFC has a plan up their sleeves.
This is going to be a fantastic bout in a year that has already seen a few great ones. Let’s just hope neither Aldo or Pettis get injured before the bout – they’ve both dealt with injuries that kept them out for the last year, so this is a real concern – because this fight is truly one for the fans.
