WEC 44 is just a few hours from now, and as we already told you once, the Mike Brown-Jose Aldo title fight promises to be a war that you do not want to miss.  Ever since Brown shocked the world against Urijah Faber, we’ve all had our chance to see what kind of tools that particular contractor is using to build his foundation, but what about Aldo?  You may not be completely familiar with the 23-year-old Brazilian, but the good news is that it won’t take you long to get caught up.  In his last three WEC fights, he’s spent a grand total of 6:02 in the cage, winning all three via TKO.  Add in introductions and a couple of rewinds to fully appreciate his explosive finishes, and you can see it all in around seven minutes. 

Take the time to enjoy the man’s body of work, won’t you?  He’d do the same for you, or at least he would if you did anything aside from reading the internet and playing those damn video games.

Aldo vs. Mickle, and a very low-fi version of Aldo vs. Perez are both after the jump.

(Props: MMA Fighting)

Believe it or not, Jose Aldo was as dominant in the beginning of his career as he’s been during his current reign in the WEC. Before suffering his first (and to date, only) loss to Luciano Azevedo in November 2005, Aldo racked up seven straight victories via brutal stoppage. The video above shows his very first vale tudo appearance against Mario Bigola at Eco Fight 1 in August 2004; Aldo was just 17 years old at the time. As you’ll see, the future featherweight champ needed just 18 seconds to land a fight-ending head-kick on Bigola, who never competed again. As for the chaos that erupts at the end, don’t be alarmed. Throwing chairs and bottles is simply how Brazilians show their appreciation. Seriously, invite one to dinner and see if I’m lying.

Related: Aldo Destroys Barbosa (Jose’s 4th pro fight)

(Photo courtesy of MMAWeekly)

Jose Aldo‘s next opponent is close to being finalized, and from what we hear, it won’t be Hatsu Hioki or Frankie Edgar. A source close to Roufusport MMA Academy has informed CagePotato.com that 145-pound contender Erik Koch has been sent a contract to challenge Aldo for the UFC featherweight title. The fight would likely take place at UFC 147 in Brazil.

Until we can confirm this report with one of the fighters themselves, treat it as a rumor for now. We’ve contacted Koch’s manager, Mike Roberts of MMA Inc., but have yet to receive a response. Stay tuned.

Koch (13-1) is 2-0 in the UFC, including his Knockout of the Night win against Raphael Assuncao and a unanimous decision over TUF 12 winner Jonathan Brookins last September. He was scheduled to return against Dustin Poirier at UFC 143 in February, but had to withdraw due to injury.

Update: Hatsu Hioki will be facing Ricardo Lamas at UFC on FX 4, and Aldo vs. Koch is now very likely.

(“Okay, we need a relatively short actor with a prominent facial scar who can do a believeable Portuguese accent. Just kidding, we’re gonna go with Mark Wahlberg.” Photo courtesy of Esther Lin)

Following in the footsteps of the Matt Hamill biopic Hamill, a movie based on Jose Aldo‘s life is reportedly in the works. According to Fighters Only, film director Afont Poyart — who Google has never heard of, but we’re guessing it’s this guy — is making the final tweaks to the script before starting filming, and the flick is slated to come out by early 2013. Aldo is clearly psyched about the news, telling UOL Desporte:

“It’s a dream, right? My life to turn into a movie, a story…I guess those who don’t know either me or my story, will know a little more through this film that we will make. It will tell a lot of stories that previously are known only to close friends.”

Let’s just hope the barbecue pit scene is tastefully done. As for the lead actor, Aldo has an interesting casting idea…

(Video courtesy of YouTube/MMATrailers)

The UFC 129 hype machine is starting to rev up with the first episode of UFC Primetime: GSP vs. Shields slated for Wednesday. Until then, some of the card’s other main card bouts are getting some play.

In the clip above from the UFC 129 countdown show, WEC featherweight champion-turned UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo expounds on his opponent Mark Hominick.

(One of these men is a bantamweight, the other is a lightweight. They will fight at featherweight Feb. 2nd)

We were already plenty excited for former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar‘s challenge of featherweight king Jose Aldo — which will finally take place February 2nd at UFC 156 — but it turns out the stakes are larger than we thought. Aldo says that if he beats Edgar he will know he’s ready to move up to 155 pounds and challenge for that belt.

Edgar is trying to see if his speed will translate at featherweight and bring him more gold. Aldo is similarly using the fight as a litmus test for his readiness to take on the lightweights of the world. MMA Fighting’s Dave Doyle has the report.

“I’ve considered going to lightweight,” said Aldo. “As soon as my trainer decides that I can go up, then I will. This fight with Edgar will be a turning point. If I can win [against] him well, then I can prove that I can go [to 155 pounds].”

Jose Aldo vs. Luis Azevedo Part 1 - Jungle Fight 5 – November 26, 2005

(Video courtesy YouTube/newmexicoone)

Sometimes when you watch dominant fighters like Anderson Silva, Fedor Emelianenko and Georges St-Pierre compete, you forget that they’ve all tasted defeat. Jose Aldo is another MMA wrecking machine who, although maybe isn’t as far along in his career as the former list, falls under the same category.

If you haven’t seen the fight that gave him his lone blemish on his record, check out part one above and part two below. Paralleling Chael Sonnen’s masterful performance against Anderson Silva at UFC 117 (minus the PEDs), Aldo controlled opponent Luis Azevedo for the majority of the Jungle Fight 5 bout, but the Nova Uniao fighter made a rookie mistake on the ground, giving up his back and just like that he was now a loser.

He bounced back from the loss, earned his black belt (although you wouldn’t know it considering he hasn’t won by submission since) and hasn’t lost or looked back at the fight with Azevedo since.

We’ve compiled some of Aldo’s greatest performances for you to watch in anticipation of his fight with Manny "I’m Fedor, bro" Gamburyan tomorrow night at WEC 51.

Check them out after the jump.

We’re not in favor of overly restrictive contracts for fighters but we wouldn’t be surprised if the UFC started prohibiting their guys from riding motorcycles. In the latest scary “fighter on a motorcycle” episode, UOL Esporte reports that UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo was riding a motorcycle in Rio de Janeiro when he was hit by a passing car.

Thankfully, Aldo said that he was uninjured and that his traffic accident would not affect his October 13th UFC 153 title defense against Frankie Edgar in Rio. According to MMA Junkie, Aldo told UOL Esporte, “Yes, I had a motorcycle accident, but it was no big deal.”

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

Jose Aldo grew up playing soccer, but transitioned to MMA when his love of brawling with rival teams began to overcome his love of scoring goals. His UFC 136 opponent Kenny Florian took his passion for soccer all the way to a position on the Boston College varsity team. Tomorrow night, they’ll be trying to kick each other, in a real sport. As this is a championship fight, their soccer-juggling showdown should have really gone five rounds. But I have a feeling it would have been an even bigger blowout if Aldo didn’t grab the fence in the third. A sign of things to come? [Ed. note: No.]

(Photo courtesy of Combate.TV)

It looks like Gray Maynard will be eating Brazilian kicks and punches for Christmas in the delicacy’s native land.

The former number one UFC lightweight contender will be in Rio de Janeiro for the next few weeks to help UFC featherweight kingpin Jose Aldo prepare for his January 14 UFC 142 bout with Chad Mendes. Aldo invited “The Bully” to Brazil as his style is very similar to Mendes’. Gray arrived on Wednesday and will stick around until after the event in three weeks.

In case you missed the update to yesterday’s rumor, top-five featherweight Hatsu Hioki will be facing Ricardo Lamas at UFC on FX: Maynard vs. Guida (June 22nd, Atlantic City), and Erik Koch is indeed the leading candidate to be the next challenger to Jose Aldo‘s belt.

If it seems that Koch is being pushed to a title shot a little too soon — especially coming off of a lengthy injury layoff — well, it’s not his fault. As UFC president Dana White explained to FOX Sports, Hioki was next in line, but insisted on getting “one more test before going for the belt.”

Let us now dissect the wisdom of Hioki’s decision…

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

Add this to the list of explanations as to why Jose Aldo nearly fell apart in the last round of his title defense against Mark Hominick. As the above video illustrates, the UFC featherweight champ suffered through the worst weight cut of his career before UFC 129 in April. Aldo’s coach Andre “Dede” Pederneiras explains that Junior had packed on more muscle than he had in the past, and was forced to cut 6.6 more pounds on the day of weigh-ins. Aldo’s training partner Marlon Sandro guides us through the weight cut process, which involves a lot of weight loss cream and a hot bath (“it feels like your skin is melting”).

With 1.1 pounds to go, Aldo mentally breaks down, refusing to cut any more, damn the consequences. The video leaves us hanging for part 2 for some reason, but look, we all know what happened; Aldo made the weight, and showed obvious signs of fatigue in his fight the next day. No matter what happens in his title defense against Kenny Florian at UFC 136 on October 8th, Aldo’s days in the 145-pound division may be numbered.

Related: Five of the Worst Weight Cuts in MMA History

(Jose, don’t you know who his cousin is, bro?)

In a interview with TATAME this weekend WEC featherweight champ Jose Aldo said that he has a good feeling that his next title defense will be against Manny Gamburyan.

According to the dominant Nova Uniao BJJ black belt fighter who trains with the likes of the Nogueira brothers, Anderson Silva and Junior Dos Santos, The fight hasn’t officially been inked, but he indicated that Gamburyan is the frontrunner for the next shot at his belt.

"I don’t really know. When we left Sacramento there were two names we had in mind, but I think maybe it will be Manny Gamburyan, so I can’t really say. We are here now, but I believe we will only know this for sure in some time, I think we will have to wait a bit longer."

(Don’t worry, Frankie, there will be plenty more where that came from.) 

We know, we know, Frankie Edgar has already convinced Dana White to give him his rematch with newly crowned champ Ben Henderson sometime this summer, but hear us out. DW stated at the Silva/Sonnen II press conference earlier today that the UFC was looking for a way to move UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo from his bout against a to-be-determined opponent at UFC 149 to UFC 147. Combine that notion with the fact that White has long been rallying for Edgar to drop to 145 for an immediate title shot, and things start to get interesting, Potato Nation. Very interesting.

Take this tidbit from Edgar’s interview with MMAFighting, for instance, in which he says that the drop to 145 is “inevitable”, especially if Aldo’s name comes up:

We’ll see what the future holds, but I think it’s inevitable that I’ll eventually get down there. I just don’t know when. I’m all about fighting big fights, and fighting the best guys, and Jose Aldo’s one of them. We’ll see where it’s at, whether it’s at 145 or 155.

Considering that Edgar has never even shown a slight interest in dropping to 145, that’s all the confirmation we’re going to need. Start making your picks, ’cause this shit is going down.

More from the interview awaits you after the jump. 

(Mendes thinks he can expose Aldo on the ground using his wrestling prowess)

Number one UFC featherweight contender Chad Mendes watched Jose Aldo grind out a decision win over Mark Hominick live at the Rogers Centre in Toronto and walked away from the event with the confidence that he can beat the previously thought invincible UFC featherweight champion.

Mendes told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto yesterday that he isn’t buying the excuse that the Aldo was sick going into the bout or that the strain of cutting weight after adding muscle the past several months left him in a weakened state strength and conditioning-wise.

(Well that explains why he’s so vicious. Apparently Dede keeps Aldo chained up in the basement and feeds him nothing but raw meat between fights.)

Jose Aldo revealed to Tatame today that he turned down the opportunity to move up a weight class to take on UFC lightweight Kenny Florian in December.

According to Aldo, who has fought as a lightweight before, after talking it over with his managers, Ed Soares and Joinha and his coach, Andre Pederneiras they came to the conclusion that the timing wasn’t right for him to make the move up to 155, partially because it takes time to put on the mass required to move up a weight class and also because he doesn’t want to have to fight any of his Nova Uniao teammates.

"Actually I started in a lighter division, then changed to this one and tried the division above, but it’s up to [Andre] Dedé [Pederneiras] and he knows better," Aldo explained. "When I was fighting on the division above he thought there were many people of the gym on that division, and on my division there’s me and Marlon [Sandro] and I can play pretty hard on this one and I’m the champion, so I think it’s best for me to stay on this weight division."

(For just three cents a day, you can help provide this child with everything he needs to earn a title shot.) 

You’ve got to understand Anthony “Showtime” Pettis‘ frustration. After winning the final WEC Lighweight Championship by defeating current UFC Lightweight Champion Ben “Smooth” Henderson back at WEC 53, many believed he would be on the short list of contenders to face then UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar. When Edgar fought to a draw with Gray Maynard less than a month after WEC 53, Pettis’ title hopes would be put on the backburner. A UD loss via dry humping and shoulder-strikes to Clay Guida at the TUF 13 Finale in June of 2011 would all but completely derail those championship aspirations.

Cut to February of 2012. After defeating Maynard via fourth round TKO in their rematch, Edgar would face off against arguably his toughest challenge to date, former WEC champion Ben Henderson, who was riding a four fight win streak since losing to Pettis. The event was UFC 144, and kicking off the main card would be an intriguing match-up between Pettis and Joe Lauzon. “Showtime” would live up to his nickname, steamrolling Lauzon with a head kick knockout in just under two minutes, and Henderson would clearly defeat Edgar by unanimous decision. Though Pettis had only scored two straight in the octagon, Dana was damn near forcing Edgar to drop to 145 and face Jose Aldo, so it seemed as if we were destined for Pettis/Henderson II.

But then, it happened. Out of nowhere, Edgar was granted a rematch with Henderson, and Pettis once again found himself screwed out of yet another title shot, against a man he had beaten in a title fight nonetheless. So perhaps the recent comments made by “Showtime’s” manager are not without merit. Here’s what Ariel Helwani said during an episode of UFC tonight after speaking with Pettis’ manager:

(Aldo vs. Brown. Props: MMA Linker. If the video doesn’t load for you, click here.)

Last night at WEC 44 in Las Vegas, Jose "Junior" Aldo went from exciting prospect to King of the Featherweight Mountain. The 23-year-old Nova Uniao standout picked up his sixth-straight TKO victory in the WEC — as well as his first major title — by shutting down incumbent champion Mike Brown‘s advantages in strength and wrestling while unleashing his own fearsome finishing ability as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

The first round of their main event battle saw both men trade heavy strikes, with Aldo impressively defending Brown’s takedown efforts. Aldo found his moment early in the second frame, rattling the champ with a flying knee and punches, then shoving his off-balance opponent to the canvas when Brown came in with a left hook. Aldo quickly transitioned to back-mount on the ground, and began firing punches to the side of Brown’s head. Brown tried to roll out of danger, but found himself caught in a mousetrap-like body lock that kept him pinned on his stomach. Eventually he turtled, and "Worst Referee in the History of Fighting" Steve Mazzagatti had to step in and do his job.

(Props: flexwheelR via CRE)

Some heart-pumpin’ MMA compilations to chase away the Monday blues. Above is a tribute to GSP that’s so cool it almost makes us forgive the use of French rap music. After the jump, #4-ranked featherweight Jose Aldo‘s greatest hits; Aldo takes on WEC champ Mike Brown in November. Also, a Gegard Mousasi career overview that features a bunch of early fights that you probably haven’t seen before.

(Photo via Gary A. Vasquez/USA TODAY Sports)

If there’s one thing that makes Dana White‘s head spin — besides Meniere’s Disease, obviously — it’s UFC champions who turn down fights. So you can imagine how he felt when Jose Aldo‘s manager recently approached the UFC president to explain that his client didn’t want to fight Anthony Pettis after all. The Aldo vs. Pettis featherweight title fight had already been confirmed earlier this month, and is scheduled to go down on August 3rd. Here’s Dana explaining the situation to media following UFC 157:

“Jose Aldo came out and said, ‘There’s no way in hell I’m fighting Pettis. He’s absolutely refusing to fight Pettis — doesn’t think he deserves the shot.

“Andre Pederneiras was in England and he sat down with me and Lorenzo (Fertitta) and was like, ‘We don’t think he deserves it.’ “What do you mean you don’t think he deserves it? ‘Well, he might be the No. 1 guy at 155, but how does that make him the No. 1 guy (at 145)?’ Are you out of your f—ing mind? Are you serious? Did you seriously just ask me that question? It’s like if Aldo wanted to move up to 155, are we going to say he’s not the No. 1 contender? What are you talking about?…

(“Hey darlin’, wanna lie down underneath some palm trees?” / Photo via MMAFighting)

Remember that bizarre interview Cub Swanson did with Sherdog in which the UFC featherweight contender claimed that he’d beat Jose Aldo “10 out of 10 times” in a rematch? The same Jose Aldo who exposed Cub’s skull in just eight seconds the first time they fought? The same Jose Aldo who hasn’t lost a fight in seven years? At the time, it sounded like Swanson’s words had crossed the border from heat-seeking boast into “Are You Fucking Kidding Me?™” territory. Especially when Swanson added that he’d like his brother to fight Scarface instead, as that would be a more fair fight.

The good news is, he didn’t mean it. When he was giving that quote, he actually thought the interviewer was asking him about Jens Pulver, which makes sense since both “Jose” and “Jens” begin with a hard-J sound. If you’ll recall, Pulver submitted Swanson in 35 seconds during Lil’ Evil’s WEC debut back in December 2007, but is nowhere near the competitive threat he once was. As Cub said during a follow-up appearance on Sherdog’s “Beatdown” radio show:

“We were going back and forth about different past opponents, and that was a mental error on my side. I was talking about Jens Pulver, and I thought you guys had asked me about a rematch with him. That’s why I said that was a long time ago and that I had put it past me…No, [I don't want my brother to fight Aldo.] My brother is a [flyweight], and he fights at 135 [pounds] as well, but that’s the fight that I would love for my brother to have — with Jens. Jose Aldo is the fight that I want.”

(Fan-made poster via CageWall.com)

Since we first wrote about Jose Aldo‘s refusal to fight Anthony Pettis, the UFC featherweight champion has changed his mind about the matchup — twice, actually. First, Aldo said that he would fight Pettis, but only in a non-title fight:

“Who deserves a chance in the first place, is Ricardo Lamas, because he has beaten Erik Koch, who was the next contender. He earned the chance after the victory,” said Aldo in an interview with TATAME. “Cub Swanson is another too. They are athletes in the division, struggling for a long time for a shot at the belt, which never arrives according to opponents the UFC is scheduling. If the UFC wants a superfight, I do not see any problem. I fight whoever, but the belt has to be against Lamas or Swanson.”

“They created a ranking that is not serving for anything, because they’re pulling people from other divisions. This is only happening on my weight, I see it nowhere else,” Aldo continued, pointing to the UFC’s recent decision to create an official system of sorting their fighters out. “It is an injustice to others.”

Bro, don’t even get us started on the useless goddamned rankings; at least the featherweight champion is concerned about the legitimacy of his division. But there was another twist to this story yesterday — Aldo finally agreed to put his 145-pound title on the line against Pettis at the original August 3rd date, once he was offered an interesting incentive:

(Edgar might not have a gold belt anymore, but the black eye and bonus-check will always be part of his ensemble.)

FightLine passes along a report from No Mundo Das Lutas claiming that UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo is set to face former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar at UFC 156 in Brazil (January 19th, city/venue TBA). Edgar had planned to drop down in weight to replace the injured Erik Koch against Aldo in a featherweight title fight in Rio at UFC 153 but then Aldo himself had to pull out due to injury.

Right now this is still a rumor, but it’s clearly a fight that both Aldo and Edgar still want, and we figured it was only a matter of time before their title bout was rescheduled. Aldo has not lost in nearly seven years and has a fourteen fight win streak. Most recently he knocked Chad Mendes out with one second left in the first round of their UFC 142 main event.

Edgar has lost two fights in a row, both close decisions to current lightweight champ Benson Henderson. It has been reported that Edgar walked around at around 160 pounds for years as he fought at 155 pounds, whereas opponents like Henderson and Gray Maynard were upwards of 180 pounds. Given his frame and walking weight, it isn’t inconceivable that Edgar could fight at 135 pounds but Dana White and fans have clamored for years for Edgar to at least give featherweight a shot.

Edgar was loathe to drop down in weight but the opportunity to fight for another world title despite being on a two-fight losing streak was too good for him to pass up. Is this the fight you want to see, taters? And if it happens, who do you have in it?

“Scarface” and “Answer” highlight videos await you after the jump.

(And he *still* looks like the smaller fighter. / Photo via MMAJunkie)

We had a feeling that dropping to featherweight would be Frankie Edgar‘s quickest path to another title shot — we just didn’t think it would happen this fast. As first reported by USA Today, Edgar will step in to face Jose Aldo for the UFC featherweight title at UFC 153 (October 13th, Rio de Janeiro), after original challenger Erik Koch was forced to withdraw due to an undisclosed injury.

If Edgar is victorious, he will become just the third fighter in UFC history (after Randy Couture and BJ Penn) to win a belt in two separate weight classes. We feel awful for Koch — who has already been inactive for nearly a year due to injuries and postponements — but you have to admit that this is one of the rare times in which an injury to a main event fighter results in a more compelling matchup. Said UFC president Dana White of the booking:

For the last time, Joe: One of these guys is a fictional character and the other one has a shoulder injury.

At this point, do we even need to update our most cursed MMA events of all time list to include UFC 149? Calling this card “injury plagued” is as brilliant of an observation as saying that airline food is typically not of high quality. For those of you who have lost track of the fighters who have pulled out of bouts on this card due to injury, allow me to quickly refresh your memory: Vitor Belfort, Thiago Silva, Thiago Alves, and Michael Bisping.

And now you can add UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo to that list as well.

According to a new report from Ariel Helwani, contracts have been sent out to book Jose Aldo vs. Josh Grispi as the UFC’s first official featherweight title fight at #125 (January 1st, Las Vegas). The bout would serve as the co-main event, supporting the lightweight title fight between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard.

Aldo, now 8-0 in the WEC, most recently defended his belt for the second time against Manny Gamburyan at WEC 51 in September. Grispi is also undefeated under the WEC banner, and has slashed through Mark Hominick, Micah Miller, Jens Pulver, and LC Davis, all in under three minutes of the first round. The Massachusetts native was slated to face Eric Koch at next month’s WEC 52 event, but that fight would be canceled if he accepts the Aldo fight. (And why wouldn’t he, really? Besides the obvious.) As we reported previously, Mark Hominick was originally in line to be Aldo’s next opponent; however, his broken hand is preventing him from competing on New Year’s Day.

Helwani also reports that Roy Nelson — left without an opponent after Shane Carwin’s back-related withdrawal — has been officially pulled from the event. 

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(Hey Frankie, you should invite Sanchez and Tebow to the fight. I’m pretty sure they’ll be free that weekend.)

The UFC’s traditional Super Bowl weekend blowout will feature at least one title belt up for grabs, as the featherweight championship match between Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar has been officially confirmed for UFC 156. Though the event was previously rumored to take place in Brazil in January, UFC 156 will actually be held February 2nd in Las Vegas, at a venue to be named later.

When the two fighters meet, it’ll be Aldo’s first Octagon appearance in more than year, as a pair of injuries have kept him out of the cage since his last title defense against Chad Mendes at UFC 142. It’ll also be Edgar’s first-ever UFC fight at featherweight. Will the former lightweight champ look stronger against an opponent closer to his own size, or will he be sacrificing the speed advantage that served him so well during his long stint at 155 pounds?

No other matchups have been formally announced for the UFC 156 card yet, though Rashad Evans vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira has been reported, while Josh Koscheck and Nick Diaz are apparently jockeying for a spot on the lineup as well.

Mark Hominick MMA Live interview – Watch more Funny Videos

Three weeks after his unsuccessful bid for the UFC featherweight title at UFC 129, Mark Hominick was in London, Ontario, supporting his Adrenaline Training Center teammate James Haourt at MMA Live 1. Our own Brian J. D’Souza caught up with the local hero to get his thoughts on his last fight and his immediate future. Some highlights…

On his performance against Jose Aldo: “[He's] one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, and I wasn’t supposed to get out of the first round, and if there were 30 more seconds, I’d be wearing the belt right now. It was one of those fights that like, you go back to the drawing board and there’s a few things that could have changed, but I laid my heart out on the line, I laid it in the ring, I put everything into that fight and everybody who was there knows that, and everyone who watched the fight knows that…I almost had him finished in the fifth, and it’s just that the knockdown in the third kind of took the momentum I felt I was building, and kind of took the sail out until I had to come back in the fifth.”

(An off-the-cage superman punch? Huh. I wonder how he came up with that one… / Photo via Esther Lin @ MMAFighting.com)

Following Jose Aldo‘s unanimous decision victory over Frankie Edgar at UFC 156, top lightweight contender Anthony Pettis reportedly sent a text message to UFC president Dana White saying that he’d like to drop to 145 and challenge for Aldo’s belt — and that was all it took to set up the UFC’s next featherweight title fight. White confirmed to USA Today Sports/MMAJunkie that Aldo will indeed make his next title defense against Pettis at an event on August 3rd.

“Aldo is a tremendous fighter,” said the stunt-kicking Roufusport product. “I have all the respect in the world for his skills. I just want to be one of the best in the world, and the only way to do that is to beat the best…I wouldn’t call him out if I didn’t really feel confident I could beat him…It’s a superfight, and I want to be a part of these fights.”

Of course, timing was clearly another consideration in requesting the matchup. Though Pettis’s recent destruction of Donald Cerrone at UFC on FOX 6 arguably made him the rightful #1 contender in the lightweight division, Gilbert Melendez already has dibs on the next shot at Benson Henderson’s 155-pound belt. And given how prone the lightweight division is to immediate rematches, Pettis could be waiting a long time for his opportunity. One title fight is just as good as another, right?