Featherweight champion Jose Aldo will defend his title against Chad Mendes at UFC 179 in Rio De Janerio, Brazil on October 25th.
The two were originally scheduled to fight in the main event of UFC 176, but Aldo pulled out due to an injury which forced the entire event, which was scheduled to take place next weekend in Los Angeles, to collapse.
The two fighters have fought once before, also In Rio, back at UFC 142 in January of 2012, which Aldo emerging victorious on that occasion by KO courtesy of a knee in the closing stages of the first round before famously running into the crowd who raised him aloft in celebration.
Mendes had been giving Aldo problems in the fight before that highlight-reel moment though and he’s been working hard since then to earn another title shot, putting together an impressive five fight winning streak with four of those victorious coming by way of either KO or TKO, a testament to the marked improvement in the wrestler’s striking game.
Aldo has proven to be somewhat injury prone over the same period, but has still managed to produce a further three successful title defences against Frankie Edgar, ‘The Korean Zombie’ and Ricardo Lamas which currently leaves him placed at No.2 on the UFC’s official pound-for-pound rankings.
So far Aldo Vs Mendes II is the only fight scheduled for UFC 179, the first pay-per-view event of the year to be broadcast from Brazil after a string of ‘Fight Night’ shows there in 2014.
