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The much anticipated featherweight bout between UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo and Anthony Pettis is now official for the main event at UFC 163 in Brazil.

MMAJunkie.com reported that UFC officials announced the match-up at the UFC on FX 8 post-event news conference.

In addition to the featherweight fight, welterweight fighters Demian Maia and Josh Koscheck will square off as well.

Aldo (22-1) as mentioned above is coming off an impressive five round war with former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar in the main event at UFC 156. Aldo is riding an impressive 15 fight winning streak and since moving over to the UFC has defended his title four times.

Pettis (16-2) was the final WEC lightweight champion and was expected to fight for the UFC lightweight title on numerous different occasions, however that didn’t come to fruition. In his last bout he obliterated Donald Cerrone with a deadly liver kick to finish the fight early in the first round. He was declared the number one contender in the UFC’s lightweight division, but he had heard that before. So, rather than waiting it out he decided to take fate into his own hands.

Maia (18-4) made the drop to welterweight in the middle of 2012 and has gone on a three-fight winning streak. Most recently the Brazilian defeated Jon Fitch by unanimous decision at UFC 156 in February.

Koscheck (17-7) was most recently knocked out by Robbie Lawler at February’s UFC 157 event. Prior to that he lost to Johny Hendricks by split decision at UFC on FOX 3. This was the first time in Koscheck’s MMA career that he lost back-to-back fights.

UFC 163 will go down on August 3 from the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The Jose Aldo vs. Anthony Pettis news just keeps flowing. With a victory over Pettis this August, the featherweight champ Aldo will be granted an immediate shot at the lightweight title holder.

UFC President Dana White confirmed the news to MMAJunkie.com late Monday evening.

Earlier this month the news was dropped that the two would be fighting, however at this past weekends UFC 157 post-fight press conference, White announced that Aldo told him there was “no way in hell” that he would fight Pettis. However, during tonights Metro PCS fan chat White revealed that Aldo vs. Pettis was “on”.

Aldo’s manager Andre Pederneiras spoke to SportTV.Globo.com and had this message for the fans.

“I’m getting this over with. They’re saying I’m running away, so they’re seeing who’s running away from whom then! If you guys like beatings, you must buy Aug 3rd PPV because that’s what you’re getting — heads will roll!”

Pettis is considered the number one contender in the UFC’s lightweight division, so rightfully so, if Aldo defeats him then he will earn that 155-pound title shot.

Aldo (22-1) is coming off an impressive five round war with former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar in the main event at UFC 156. Aldo is riding an impressive 15 fight winning streak and since moving over to the UFC has defended his title four times.

Pettis (16-2) was the final WEC lightweight champion and was expected to fight for the UFC lightweight title on numerous different occasions, however that didn’t come to fruition. In his last bout he obliterated Donald Cerrone with a deadly liver kick to finish the fight early in the first round. He was declared the number one contender in the UFC’s lightweight division, but he had heard that before. So, rather than waiting it out he decided to take fate into his own hands.

Aldo vs. Pettis is expected to go down on August 3 at an unnamed venue and unnamed event. Rumored locations are Texas, Chicago, Las Vegas and Rio de Janeiro.

It was announced earlier this month that Anthony Pettis would be dropping down to featherweight and be granted an immediate shot at Jose Aldo’s title. Well, it sounds like Aldo isn’t too keen on that.

UFC President Dana White spoke with the media following the UFC 157 post-fight press conference and filled them in on what Aldo said.

“Jose Aldo came out and said, ‘There’s no way in hell I’m fighting Pettis. He’s absolutely refusing to fight Pettis – doesn’t think he deserves the shot.”

According to White, Aldo’s manager Andre Pederneiras spoke to him during this past weekends UFC on FUEL TV 7 event in London asking to change things up a bit.

“Andre Pederneiras was in England and he sat down with me and Lorenzo (Fertitta) and was like, ‘We don’t think he deserves it’. What do you mean you don’t think he deserves it? ‘Well, he might be the No. 1 guy at 155, but how does that make him the No. 1 guy (at 145)?’ Are you out of your f—ing mind? Are you serious? Did you seriously just ask me that question? It’s like if Aldo wanted to move up to 155, are we going to say he’s not the No. 1 contender? What are you talking about?”

We saw it happen when Frankie Edgar made the drop to 145-pounds and Aldo didn’t seem to have a problem with that. White made it clear that this fight is going to happen regardless of what Aldo and his management think.

“F—in’ right, [Aldo] is gonna fight Pettis. That fight’s on. He’s going to fight Pettis, or he’s not going to like how this is going to turn out.”

UFC 156 went down from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday February 2 and today the Executive Director of Nevada State Athletic Commission released the final numbers for the gate and attendance.

The event which was headlined by what the UFC called a featherweight super fight between Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar brought in a gate of $2,437,150 selling 7,136 tickets.

Aldo and Edgar battled for five rounds with Aldo retaining his featherweight gold on all three judges scorecards.

There were 548 tickets unsold and the organization gave 3,139 complimentary tickets away.

MMASucka Radio is back in your living rooms for your listening pleasure.

Waking up on Tuesday morning to shocking news story that the International Olympic Committee have decided to pull the plug on Wrestling in the 2020 Olympics.

So with that we decided to nab a collegiate wrestler to join the show as our first guest.

We chat with UFC 158 welterweight fighter Johny Hendricks. He opens up to us about his thoughts on the IOC getting rid of wrestling, how it will impact NCAA wrestling and kids coming up in the sport. We will also delve into his fight against Jake Ellenberger at UFC 158 next month.

Next we will chat with Anthony Pettis who is set to drop down to featherweight to fight for the championship against Jose Aldo. We will discuss his thoughts on that match-up, the weight cut, his plans on staying at featherweight and much more.

This episode was brought to you by our good friends at BetHubb.com, head over to BetHubb and get your $10 sign up bonus.

MMASucka Radio w/ Johny Hendricks and Anthony Pettis Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Frankie Edgar has been in his fair share of controversial decisions. In the main event at UFC 156, Edgar looked to be out-matched against the featherweight champion Jose Aldo after the first two rounds. It isn’t clear what went through his head and clicked, but the next three rounds he rebounded and brought the fight to Aldo;  in fact some members of the MMA media even gave rounds three through five to Edgar.

I caught up with some of the best in the business when it comes to the media and they gave me their scores for the main event between Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar.

Erik Fontanez (GracieMag.com) - 3-2, Edgar. Rounds 3, 4, 5 for Edgar.

Bear Frazer (Fight! Magazine) – I gave rounds 1,2 and 5 to Aldo and 3-4 Edgar.

Bryan Levick (BJPenn.com) - I had it 3-2 Aldo. 1-2-3 Aldo!

Damon Martin (BleacherReport.com) – 48-48 Edgar, but easily could have been 48-47 Aldo.

E. Spencer Kyte (Keyboard Kimura at The Province) - 49-46 Aldo, with Frankie getting Round 4.

Mike Bohn (MMAmania.com) - 48-47 Aldo. Aldo 1-2-3 and Edgar 4-5.

John Ramdeen (The Fight Network) -  I scored it three rounds to two for Aldo. However, I was unsure about round five.

Anton Gurevich (Lowkick.com) - I scored it for Edgar!!! I say he won the 3rd.

Media who picked Aldo: 5

Media who picked Edgar: 3

Well there you have it, the majority of folks out there did have it scored for Aldo, including myself. However, there were plenty of folks who gave that third round to Frankie which would have stole him the fight.

As the old quote says, “You have to beat the champ to be the champ.”

It’s an unfortunate situation for Edgar, as he has been in a total of seven title fights in a row and has fallen short in his last three.

Who did you score the main event fight for?

(Photo by Eric Jameson/AP)

If you ask, you shall receive.

At the UFC 156 post-fight press conference, UFC President Dana White told the media that he had received a text message from UFC Lightweight contender Anthony Pettis requesting a title fight with main event winner and UFC Featherweight champ Jose Aldo.

As we’ve seen in the past, if you are going to call someone out and you deserve the shot you will get it. That seems to be the case for Anthony Pettis, as the UFC has granted him a UFC title shot.

USA Today got word from White himself.

“Two of the baddest dudes in the fight business are going to fight at 145 pounds. These guys are two of the most amazing, gravity-defying athletes in the sport. I am so pumped for this fight.”

Aldo (22-1) as mentioned above is coming off an impressive five round war with former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar in the main event at UFC 156. Aldo is riding an impressive 15 fight winning streak and since moving over to the UFC has defended his title four times.

Pettis (16-2) was the final WEC lightweight champion and was expected to fight for the UFC lightweight title on numerous different occasions, however that didn’t come to fruition. In his last bout he obliterated Donald Cerrone with a deadly liver kick to finish the fight early in the first round. He was declared the number one contender in the UFC’s lightweight division, but he had heard that before. So, rather than waiting it out he decided to take fate into his own hands.

Aldo vs. Pettis is expected to go down on August 3 at an unnamed venue and unnamed event. Rumored locations are Texas, Chicago, Las Vegas and Rio de Janeiro.

Following the first two rounds of last nights UFC 156 main event, I leaned over to a buddy and said, “Jose Aldo will move up to lightweight after this fight.” However my mood changed at the end of round five. Frankie Edgar rallied to win a couple of rounds in one judges eyes and in a ton of fans, so in that I believe he still has a few tests to prove himself at the 145 pound weight class.

Below is a list from top to bottom of who I think Aldo should face.

1. Ricardo Lamas

Prior to UFC on FOX 6, I wasn’t all that excited about the possibility of Lamas taking on Aldo for his title. However, his battering over top featherweight Erik Koch has given me a new light on the man known as “The Bully”.

Lamas has been on a tear going four in a row and is undefeated inside the Octagon. He has picked up big wins over Cub Swanson, Hatsu Hioki and the aforementioned Koch.

2. Chad Mendes

Mendes was undefeated prior to losing to Jose Aldo back at UFC 142 for the title. The Team Alpha Male product was doing fairly well against the champ, that is until Aldo grabbed the fence to evade a throw. Following the cage grab, Aldo grabbed onto the wrist of Mendes and threw a show-stopping knee which ended the fight.

In an effort to get back into title contention, the California based fighter who is known for his wrestling has finished his past two opponents by knockout. At UFC 148 Mendes dropped Cody McKenzie with a body punch thirty one seconds into the fight. He followed that win up with a KO of Hacran Dias at UFC on FX 6.

He is expected to square off against Manny Gamburyan at UFC 157 later this month, so if he comes out of that fight unscathed then a title fight is definitely a possibility.

3. Chan Sung Jung

After losing two in a row, Jung (also known as The Korean Zombie) has gone on a three fight winning streak. He picked up victories over Leonard Garcia, Mark Hominick and most recently Dustin Poirier. All three of those performances earned him fight bonuses, a submission of the night, a fight of the night and a knockout of the night.

Having not fought since May of last year it is highly unlikely for Jung to get a title shot, but if he picks up a victory in his next he will be inching that much closer.

4. Anthony Pettis

I know I said that initially I wanted Aldo to make the move up to 155 pounds, well it looks like the current number one contender at that weight class wants to make the move down to challenge him for his title.

At the UFC 156 post-fight press conference UFC President Dana White told the media, much to their surprise that Pettis had texted him asking for the match-up.

Pettis came into the UFC guaranteed a lightweight title shot as he was the WEC lightweight champion at the time. However, various reasons had forced them to turn a blind eye on the Roufusport fighter. He has gone 3-1 inside the Octagon since coming over from the WEC, with his most recent victory being a brutal liver kick knockout against Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone.

Well there you have it, those are my choices for who Jose Aldo should fight next. What are your thoughts? Vote below.

(Photo by Getty Images)

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Hear the post fight reactions from Dana White, KO of the night winner Antonio Bigfoot Silva, submission of the night winner Bobby Green and other winners of UFC 156: Aldo vs Edgar, February 2, 2013.

Big thanks to MMA H.E.A.T. and MMAFighting.com for the great interviews!

Dana White

Antonio Bigfoot Silva

Demian Maia

Tyrone Woodley

Bobby Green

Francisco Rivera

Dustin Kimura

Isaac Vallie-Flagg

Post Fight Press Conference

The main event at UFC 156 was being dubbed a super-fight, as the former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar made the drop to 145lbs to take on the champ Jose Aldo.

The first two rounds were all Aldo with him landing punches and nasty leg kicks at will. Edgar was a bloody mess going into the third round, but seemed to have found his range. To surprise the masses Edgar turned it on and Aldo seemed to slow down a bit. In the end Aldo took home a unanimous decision to retain his title in an all out war.

Check out full highlights below.