The injury bug has once again bitten a major UFC card, but fans will now get to see one of the most heavily-anticipated super fights in the modern era.
With Erik Koch suffering a knee injury weeks before his featherweight title fight with reigning champion Jose Aldo, former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar stepped up to the plate to fill in. USA Today broke the story early this morning.
Koch was originally scheduled to face Aldo at UFC 149 on July 21 on the strength of four consecutive wins, but the bout was postponed when the Brazilian suffered an undisclosed training injury.
Meanwhile, Edgar announced his intentions to drop to featherweight on FUEL TV’s “UFC Tonight” last week. The decision came on the heels of “The Answer” dropping two consecutive decisions to UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson.
Just nine days later, Edgar gets a chance to become just the third UFC fighter (behind BJ Penn and Randy Couture) to hold a title in two different weight classes.
The New Jersey native will have his hands full though, as Aldo has won 14 fights in a row, successfully defending the featherweight title six times between the WEC and the UFC.
Interestingly, Aldo’s sole career loss came in a lightweight bout back in Nov. 2005. In 22 professional fights, this marked the only time Aldo fought at 155 pounds.
Edgar is just 1-2-1 in his past four fights but is still considered one of the world’s best fighters with wins over the likes of BJ Penn, Gray Maynard, Sean Sherk and Jim Miller.
Additonally, many fans and analysts believe that Edgar was the victim of a very poor judge’s decision when “Bendo” defeated him at UFC 150.
Edgar brings a wrestling and boxing pedigree, as well as speed, that Aldo is not used to seeing in his opponents, so it’s no wonder fans have been clamoring to see this fight since 2010. This fact that this fight takes place in Aldo’s homeland of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil only adds further intrigue to this bout.
Who wins this epic superfight that has essentially saved the UFC’s weak fall schedule?