Hyden's Take
HYDEN BLOG: Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar, and Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos part 3?
Jan 9, 2013 - 9:15:04 AM HYDEN BLOG: Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar, and Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos part 3?

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By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor

Jose Aldo will defend his UFC Featherweight Title against Frankie Edgar on February 2 at UFC 156. There are some other big name fights on the card like Rashad Evans vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Alistair Overeem vs. Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva, but there's no question that Aldo vs. Edgar is the real draw. I think Jose Aldo is the number four fighter in the world, behind Anderson Silva, Jon Jones, and Georges St-Pierre. Edgar is a really good fighter as well, not to mention a former Champion, so this should be a fantastic fight. I'm also interested in seeing what Edgar looks like at featherweight, and how Aldo deals with him.

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Junior dos Santos says he's very disappointed in himself after his loss to Cain Velasquez at UFC 155. That's to be expected as he didn't really look like his usual self in the Octagon. However, he also said that he would like an immediate rematch against Velasquez. I would be against this for a couple of reasons. One, I don't like immediate rematches unless the previous fight was very close or controversial. That wasn't the case here.

The second reason I don't like an immediate rematch here is that there are other contenders. That wasn't the case when Cain got his rematch with JDS. Alistair Overeem was suspended and there was no one else who was really deserving of a title shot. Cain also had to smash Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva before getting another shot at JDS. I think it would only be fitting that JDS would have to win at least one fight before getting another shot at Cain. As I said last week, I think that fight should come against Daniel Cormier when Cormier comes to the UFC.

JDS said that he couldn't explain why he fought the way he did against Cain; I think a large part of it was that massive shot he took early on. It took a while to recover and he just didn't look the same from that point on. I would like to see JDS vs. Cain III, but not right away.

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I did want to hit upon something that was circulating around a bit in the lead-up to the Junior dos Santos vs. Cain Velasquez rematch, and that's the "Brown Pride" tattoo on Cain's chest. I'm not offended by it, by any means, though I do think it's a bit heavy-handed. My only issue would be the fact that if a white fighter had a "White Pride" tattoo on his chest, that fighter would be branded a racist, and I don't think that's right. No one would accuse Cain of being a racist because it would be illogical to jump to that conclusion because of his tattoo.

I'm not into such displays myself, but I have no problem with others engaging in such activity. It's much the same way that I would never be involved in one of those NFL hype circles that you see pre-game, where the players are yelling and screaming like a horde of crazed maniacs ready to unleash hell on their opponents. Whether I just hit the game-winning basket, kicked the game-winning goal, or knocked out my opponent, I would be much more likely to give a big fist pump or raise my hand in victory than to run around celebrating like crazy.

I think Cain's "Brown Pride" tattoo is just a version of that celebratory style that I wouldn't engage in myself. I may find it maladroit myself, but I would never want to stop anyone from doing such a thing. I find it no different than Roy Nelson's mullet and gray beard.


Comments and suggestions can be e-mailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com