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By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor
Talk has turned towards UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo moving up to lightweight to face UFC Lightweight Champion Anthony Pettis after UFC 169. Aldo's camp has put forth a catchweight fight, with no titles on the line. There's also been talk of Aldo vacating his belt in order to face Pettis.
I think vacating the belt is the wrong way to go. For one, if he loses to Pettis, he'll get an immediate title shot at featherweight anyway, so vacating the belt becomes moot at that point. You also lose out on the ability to promote the Aldo-Pettis fight as "Champion vs. Champion." And I think it would be very cool if Aldo were to become a two division champion, even if he then immediately vacates the Featherweight belt.
This is all semantics anyway so it doesn't really matter all that much to the hardcore UFC fans, but to those who may not know as much about the organization, you're missing some valuable selling points. One thing that is certain, though, is that this is one of the most exciting fights on paper in years.
Both men are electrifying fighters who are highly skilled in multiple areas. I think this fight gets made because it's in the best interests of all involved. The benefit to the UFC is most obvious, money. They have a chance to book a legit superfight between two division champions. There's also no clear contenders in either the featherweight or lightweight divisions. Cub Swanson vs. Chad Mendes will be the #1 contenders fight, or interim title fight if they decide to go that route. The lightweight division is totally up for grabs. You could make a case for Gilbert Melendez, but it's not exactly the strongest case.
The benefits to Aldo and Pettis are increased visibility and money, as well as the chance to say that they defeated the other. There's just too much at stake here to derail this. If this were boxing, with all the different promoters and all that, it would be a different story. As it stands, though, this fight will almost assuredly get made. There's just too many reasons for it than against it.
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Glover Teixiera recently said that he's looking past UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones towards a fight against Daniel Cormier. My first thought is, what makes him think that Cormier is getting a title shot anytime soon? We don't even know if Cormier can make weight in the division. Add in his lackluster showings in the heavyweight division lately, and I've got serious doubts about him even sniffing a title shot.
However, this brings me to my second thought, one that looms much larger. Why is Teixiera overlooking the man many consider the best fighter in the world? It's ludicrous that he's openly dismissing Jones like this. This was the quintessential trap game for Jones. He was just in the toughest test of his career in his last fight, and it's likely that his next fight after this one will be against that same fighter, Alexander Gustafsson. Teixiera could have used this to his advantage. He could have tried to lay in the weeds and surprise Jones to score the upset win. Instead, he's now painted a big bullseye right on himself. He's called Jones into question when he didn't have to. I guess we'll find out if this strategy works or not. I've got a strong feeling that it won't.
Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank
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