After the matchmaking equivelant of ‘pass the parcel’, Jose Aldo’s next featherweight title fight against Erik Koch has finally been made official for UFC 149 in Calgary, Canada.
UFC president Dana White had told an enthusiastic Calgary crowd at a press conference last month that Aldo was likely to be taking part in the UFC 149 event, but then at another press conference in Brazil earlier this week he suggested that they were now planning to have him fight in front of his home fans at UFC 147 to make up for a fight between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen being moved to a different event.
However, for reasons that haven’t yet been disclosed that idea has now been scrapped and so Calgary it is for the Brazilian star as he takes on an up and coming star in the division in Koch who’s currently on a four fight winning streak, 13-1 for his career overall.
While the Calgary fans will likely be pleased to have a title fight confirmed for the event, the fact that Aldo Vs Koch has been lined up suggests that hopes of the show being headlined by a 205lb title fight between Jon Jones and Dan Henderson may now have diminished.
Meanwhile, the news that Aldo won’t be fighting at UFC 147 in Brazil after all, coming just days after Silva Vs Sonnen 2 was also pulled from the card probably isn’t going to go down too well over there, though they still have a ready-made headliner featuring TUF: Brazil coaches Vitor Belfort Vs Wanderlei Silva.
