Should the Champ vs Champ fight happen? Pros and Cons for both divisions
by Sam Heard @SamHeard_
By now I’m sure the news of the proposed super fight between long time featherweight champion José Aldo (24-1 MMA, 6-0 UFC) and the newly crowned lightweight king Anthony Pettis (17-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) has filtered down to even casual fans of MMA. It’s very difficult not to get carried away with excitement at the prospect of this titanic clash – for too many years now the MMA community has clamoured for a super fight, yet the last time we saw a clash of champions was GSP vs B.J Penn II way back in 2009… However, looking past how intriguing this battle would be, there are quite a few reasons why it might not necessarily be the right time for this fight.
From Anthony Pettis’ end there are some notable obstacles.
It must be remembered that Pettis has only just won his lightweight belt and is yet to make a single defence. There is no shortage of potential contenders in the lightweight division; Gilbert Melendez, Khabib Nurmagomedov and T.J. Grant to name but a few are sniffing after the belt. Surely it would make more sense for Pettis to see off a few of these challengers before super fight discussion can begin? While Aldo has seen off all the competition the featherweight division has to offer in some style, Pettis hasn’t even fought as a UFC champion. It could raise the stakes of a future battle between Pettis and Aldo even more if Pettis gets a few wins under his belt, proving himself to be a champion worthy of a super fight.
Aside from this question over Pettis’ dominance as a champion, there is a far more obvious concern preventing the two meeting in the Octagon. Anthony Pettis is currently rehabbing a serious knee injury. A recent interview with the UFC’s doctor revealed that even expecting the champion to return by July could be an overly optimistic estimation. By committing to the super fight the UFC would be essentially side-lining both champions until Pettis makes a full recovery, putting both the featherweight and lightweight divisions on hold. Also, with heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez out until late in the year, this means the UFC would have three champions out of action and would have far less main-event-worthy fights at their disposal.
There can be no denying that of the two fighters José Aldo is the more ready for a super fight. During his time as the top dog of the UFC and WEC he has cleared out the upper-tier of the featherweight division, so in many ways a move up to lightweight is understandable. He simply needs some more competition...
However, the fate of the featherweight belt if Aldo does indeed move up to 155-lbs is problematic. When Aldo first expressed his interest in the super fight at the post-UFC 169 press conference, Dana was fairly adamant that Aldo will be forced to relinquish his hold of the Featherweight belt, opening the vacant championship position up to a battle between the two top contenders (the same scenario scheduled to take place for the Welterweight championship at UFC 171).
While this battle for the vacant belt – most likely between Chad Mendes and Cub Swanson – would be a killer fight, viewers would be left with a strange aftertaste. The new featherweight champion wouldn’t be the ‘real’ champion. Aldo would still be the champion, at least in the eyes of the people. This new guy would be the fighter who was babysitting Aldo’s belt while he attempted to conquer the lightweight division. There is also every chance Aldo won’t even be willing to give up his belt – it would be a huge gamble to drop one championship belt for the opportunity to potentially gain another. Becoming the champion of another division would certainly put Aldo right into the GOAT discussion though.
The fight seemed to be arranged so easily at the press conference. Dana White simply announced “sounds like we got a fight”, though it is clear that there is a lot more arranging to do before a fight of this scale can be set in stone. Aldo and Pettis were supposed to meet at UFC 163 and it seems pretty obvious their paths are destined to cross at some point – will this happen in 2014? Who knows. When it does happen, expect it to be an incredible battle though.
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