After being discussed as a possible headliner for UFC 147 in Brazil, Jose Aldo will remain in Calgary on the UFC 149 card in July, as he will take on Eric Koch in a featherweight title matchup. UFC 149 takes place at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary on July 21st.
Aldo (21-1) fought in Brazil in his last fight, a title defending win over Chad Mendes at UFC 142 in January. He was expected to make his return to his home country for UFC 147, but according to MMAJunkie, his training camp feels he will not be ready in time for the June 23rd event. This will be his fourth UFC title defense, as he has defeated Mark Hominick, Kenny Florian, and Mendes within the past year.
Koch (13-1) has also enjoyed an undefeated run in the UFC, having gone 2-0 since transitioning over from the WEC. He last fought in September, defeating Jonathan Brookins via unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 25. He was expected to take on Dustin Poirier at UFC 143 in February, but withdrew due to injury. The matchup was expected to determine the number one contender in the featherweight division. Poirier went on to defeat Max Holloway, and is now scheduled to take on Chan Sung Jung at UFC on Fuel TV 3 on May 15th. The other top featherweight contender, Hatsu Hioki, also has a fight scheduled, against Ricardo Lamas at UFC on FX 4 in June. Now Koch will be the one that takes on the champion in Aldo.
UFC 149 will also feature a heavyweight matchup between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Cheick Kongo.
For complete coverage of UFC 149, stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com
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Zombie or Dustin should have had the shot. Hioki apparently turned the shot down. Koch is not ready for aldo imho…
But it does seem kind of weird that Poirier would go from fighting a guy with 4 pro fights to fighting Aldo for the title IMO they r bout equally deserving , zombie should get it only if he beats dustin
No one is ready for Aldo, haha.
Porier has the biggest wins out of the group, then kz. Porier only fought the bum because koch got hurt. The real weird thing is that koch went from missing a fight that wasn’t even a number one contender fight, to title fight. Even if it was supposed to be a top contender fight (which I never remember hearing Bryan, source?), then its even more odd, and frankly stupid, that ufc has forced koch into an unnecessary title fight, when he didn’t even fight in his supposed number one contender fight. Wow very rigorous ladder climbing Dana enforces lol. And the lamest is its all so that the ufc could exploit aldo and Brazil and make more money.
Yea huge oppurtnity
For koch. But not really a big enough stepping stone for Aldo IMO. And still think brooking won that one. But what can you do when ur running out of contenders. I would rather see some dream matches from some lws dropping down to challenge him if they make the cut. Imagine showtime or guida that’s some fireworks right there
i agree!