UFC 156: 'Aldo vs Edgar'

[dazprospect]

To be fair wasn't there meant to have been something up with Aldo before the Hominick fight? I could swear he was either ill or had a really shit weight cut for some reason. Either way Hominick fought out of his skin on that night. Turned out it was his last stand and I think Aldo underestimated just how stupidly tough Hominick was.

 

That was the only fight where Aldo has had any major trouble making weight and it was because he was real sick before it. I think people are making something out of nothing. He has been 5 rounds numerous times and that fight was the only time he had any significant problems. Florian probably did the best out of everyone against him, but there was no point in the fight where he had Aldo in any sort of danger of losing.

 

I think whoever said the best sort of chin is the one who doesn't get hit is spot on. Frankie may be good at taking a shot, but he's never had to take a shot with as much power and accuracy as what Aldo brings. Frankie is the best Aldo has had to face, and i'll never count him out in any fight, but im going with Jose on this one.

[The Natural]

I like both Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar. I predicted Frankie Edgar by decision so I want him to win but there are other reasons for my support of Edgar in this fight.

 

The biggest is Edgar getting back a UFC Championship. Frankie Edgar should still be the UFC Lightweight Champion as he beat Benson Henderson in their second fight at UFC 150. An awful decision. The vast majority of people scored the fight for Edgar.

 

The second reason I want Edgar to win is for him to make history as only the third man to win a UFC Championship in two different weight classes (Randy Couture was the first winning the UFC Heavyweight Championship/UFC Light Heavyweight Championship and BJ Penn the second winning the UFC Welterweight Championship/UFC Lightweight Championship).

 

The third reason is that even though this is Frankie Edgar's Featherweight debut, if he loses that will be two championship challenges in a row he's lost. I think it will take time for him to get another unless a close decision or worse still controversy happens in his fight with Aldo this weekend.

[wandshogun09]

That's true Daz. Aldo went 5 rounds with Florian, Hominick and Faber. He looked fine in the Florian and Faber fights, never in trouble and if anything, seemed to up the pace in the later rounds.

 

It has been reported though that Aldo has been finding cutting to 145 increasingly difficult. He's been on about moving up to 155 more. And although I agree the point has been overblown, I can see why people think he might struggle with Frankie if it goes to round 4 and 5. .

 

You have a guy who's been reportedly struggling with the weight cut who's also been out for a year. Couple that with Frankie being his best opponent yet, finally fighting in the right division, who's known for his stamina and has been active, going 10 rounds with Bendo during Aldo's layoff.

 

I'm picking Aldo. He's got the power, size, speed, better overall striking, unpredictability. But there's factors which make it very interesting and Frankie has form for winning fights when he shouldn't.

 

Aldo TKO, R4 for me but fuck knows. I can't wait.

[jimufctna24]

Funny story, which I think is reflective of the UFC fanbase.

 

A guy at Uni today inquired if I was watching UFC this weekend, this is the first time he had mentioned he liked it to me. I said "yeah Aldo vs Edgar" he replied with "Overeem is on the card" and we had a brief chat about Overeem and his test last year in which he knew more about it than me, Aldo vs Edgar was not mentioned again.

 

People love the Heavyweights, and with Overeem's look, win over Brock and infamy. I think the casual fan is more interested in Overeem than the super fight this weekend.

 

I personally am interested in both, but I think Overeem is the biggest star this weekend, with Rashad's fight being under the radar.

[Egg Shen]

Oh yeh, casuals always love the heavyweights.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah, people have always been drawn to the heavyweights. There's just something about watching two massive bastards, the type of massive you don't see in real life, trying to knock the shit out of each other. And when one of them looks like Overeem and carries himself like a star it's easy to see why people get drawn in.

 

You mentioned the Countdown before Jim. I agree that the bog standard UFC Countdown shows look dated now. We've been spoiled with Primetime and Road To The Octagon.

 

I watched the Countdown earlier. It was alright. Not must see or anything but I enjoyed it. I would recommend watching the Overeem/Bigfoot bit though. I'm actually more into that one now than I already was. Both Overeem and Bigfoot did a good job selling the fight and Reem just came across as a star. I always felt like Reem seems a bit of a dick in interviews and this kind of reinforced it, but there's something likeable there too.

 

So yeah, I'd give the Reem/Bigfoot part a look.

[SuperJohnny]

Just done a quad with SkyBet just to make it a little interesting ...

 

Damian Maia

Frankie Edgar

Ian McCall

Alistair Overeem

 

I went with my heart over my head to be honest, but i only put on a fiver, will win

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

Local advertising just ran an outdated ad promoting Erick Silva vs. Jay Hieron, I was really excited until I double checked and saw that Tyron Woodley is replacing him. Seriously, could they have picked an opponent that was any more underwhelming and opposite in style to E. Silva? Damn shame.

[Egg Shen]

Woodley's coming off one of the fights of the 2012, he's a great replacement. He might not have the gung-ho aggresive style of Silva but he's a worthy replacement.

[pryko]

I completely forgot Erik Silva was fighting this weekend til a friend at work pointed out there was a photo of him in some UFC 156 Photo's he was looking at. Looking forward to his fight now also

[wandshogun09]

I completely forgot Erik Silva was fighting this weekend til a friend at work pointed out there was a photo of him in some UFC 156 Photo's he was looking at. Looking forward to his fight now also

 

Nah, he's off the card. Woodley is his replacement.

 

Shane O, watch Woodley vs Marquardt if you haven't seen it. Like Ebb said, one of the best fights of 2012. And he was unbeaten before that, this is an interesting fight.

[Bus Surfer]

I would guess a few people would have already seen this, but I'm a sucker for this stuff so I thought I'd throw it in here anyways. Always some interesting stuff.

 

25 fast facts about UFC 156.

 

 

 

Jose Aldo, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Alistair Overeem enter UFC 156 on the longest layoffs of their MMA careers.

 

Frankie Edgar is the first fighter in UFC history to fight for an undisputed title after back-to-back losses. Randy Couture fought Chuck Liddell for the interim light

heavyweight title at UFC 43 after two-straight losses.

 

All 10 main card fighters on the UFC 156 main card have headlined a UFC or World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) event at some point in their career.

 

Jon Fitch has not finished an opponent since submitting Roan Carneiro with a rear-naked choke at UFC Fight Night 10 on June 12, 2007.

 

Joseph Benavidez and Ian McCall, who fight in the PPV opener, both suffered a defeat to Demetrious Johnson in their last fight.

 

According to Fight Metric, Gleison Tibau has completed 64 takedowns in his UFC career, second in UFC history. Georges St. Pierre holds the record with 68 completed takedowns.

 

Edgar can join Couture and B.J. Penn as the only fighters to win UFC titles in two different weight classes with a win over Aldo in the UFC 156 main event.

 

Aldo's 11-0 (8-0 WEC, 3-0 UFC) record under the ZUFFA umbrella from June 1, 2008 to present gives him the second longest winning streak in ZUFFA history behind UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva (16-0).

 

According to SB Nation MMA Rankings, all 10 fighters on the UFC 156 main card are ranked in the top 15 of their respective weight classes.

 

Former Strikeforce fighters Isaac Vallie-Flagg, Bobby Green and Tyron Woodley make their UFC debut at the event.

 

Edgar's first UFC fight was on Super Bowl weekend in 2007. He headlines UFC 156 on Super Bowl weekend in 2013.

 

Four of the five main card bouts pit a Brazilian fighter against a non-Brazilian.

 

Demian Maia's total fight time since moving to the UFC welterweight division is three minutes and 17 seconds.

 

Jay Hieron's unanimous decision loss to Jake Ellenberger at UFC on FX 5 dropped his UFC record to 0-3 dating back to June 19, 2004.

 

According to Fight Metric, Tibau holds the UFC record for highest takedown defense accuracy. Tibau stops 91.8% of his opponent's takedown attempts (Minimum five UFC

fights and 20 TD attempts by opponents).

 

Jon Fitch has the best submission defense in UFC history. He has escaped 25 of 25 submission attempts in his UFC career.

 

The 10 main card competitors have 127 fights of experience in UFC or an organization purchased by parent company ZUFFA (Strikeforce, WEC, PRIDE).

 

Yves Edwards will fight his second UFC bout in a 56-day span.

 

Fitch is tied with Sam Stout for the most UFC fights to go to a decision at 12.

 

Edgar will fight in his seventh consecutive UFC title bout.

 

Of the 22 fighters scheduled to compete on the card, Edwards has the most fights at 61, with 42 wins and 18 losses.

 

Of a combined 53 professional victories, Overeem and Antonio Silva have finished 49 opponents by knockout, technical knockout or submission.

 

According to Fight Metric, Fitch has landed 2,149 total strikes in his UFC career, second most in UFC history behind Georges St. Pierre's 2,188.

 

Tibau will fight inside the Octagon for the 18th time in the last six years and two months. No other fighter has competed in more UFC bouts in that time frame.

 

According to Fight Metric, Edgar has the third longest average fight time in UFC history behind Ben Henderson and Demetrious Johnson at 17 minutes and 47 seconds.

 

The Edgar being in his 7th consecutive title fight, whilst being totally obvious, really make me do a double take. Madness.

[Egg Shen]

Tibau having a 91.8% takedown defence accuracy stands out, considering the amount of fights he's had in the UFC (17), and he's been in the cage with guys like Tyson Griffin, Jim Miller & Joe Stevenson. That's a crazy figure.

[wandshogun09]

Yeah Tibau's often overlooked. Him and Dos Anjos have been underrated for years, two really solid fighters. Tibau's fight with Trinaldo on the last Brazil card was awesome.

 

Who's everyone picking for Benavidez vs Creepy? I think that will be a great fight to open the PPV with. I'm having Benavidez on points I think but it's a tough one to call.

[jimufctna24]

I also think Benavidez on points, but I want Creepy to win. As its arguably the 3rd and 4th best Flyweight in the world speaks volumes about this card.

 

I know I have been a supporter of Rashad facing Anderson next, I hope Rashad is not overlooking Lil Nog. I know he lost to Davis and Bader who are vastly inferior to Evans, but Nog could still land something with his nifty boxing and Evans has been caught before by Rampage and T-Silva, the latter who I think is not as good a boxer as Lil Nog.

 

This card is stacked but it also shows with the lack of hype online compared to Rampage last weekend, that selling yourself outside the cage is a critical aspect of modern MMA. I am not talking Sonnen style trash talk, I mean more how the likes of Frank Shamrock and BJ Penn used to by being captivating in interviews and being good at P.R (or at least interesting)

 

Aldo has the language barrier and Edgar is not exactly Hollywood material. Its a shame as Dana put it that some fans are dismissing this as a super fight as its rare you get two guys in their prime facing each other like this.