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[bottlerocks]

I just rewatched WEC 48 and I'm even more blown away by Aldo's performance. I'm no Urijah Faber fan but I thought he posed a legitimate threat to the champ. I've never seen someone that good beaten that badly for five straight rounds.

After seeing the way Aldo fought Faber, I really don't see how he can lose in the future (against similarly sized oppenents.) Given that he's as good off of his back as people seem to think he is -- his style of fighting has virtually no holes. He can freely throw kicks and unless his opponent has perfect defense, he's going to take away their legs and thus their ability to fight effectively. After seeing what he did, I feel like he could have beaten (and hopefully one day will beat) BJ Penn at 155 in a similar manner.

I don't believe in the "perfect gameplan" in MMA. But I believe that Jose Aldo's gameplan against Urijah is about as close as anyone's going to get to that goal.

Thoughts?

[mattc25]

...I said before Edgar beat Penn that I thought Aldo posed the biggest threat to him at 155. I would love to see that fight. BJ's striking D and movement would be the difference imo.

...Eventually I would like to see Aldo fight Edgar as well.

[pdx_boxer503]

Agreed. He set up the leg kicks early in the fight and kept the fight standing up. I wonder if we'll ever have a chance to see Aldo's ground game.

[QOTSA420]

He looks red hot now, but the only guys WEC can throw at him arent up to snuff so he is in for a long reign. If they could get this damn merger over with then we could see some undersized UFC LWs get in their right weightclass without losing that big pay day. That is when we will see who the absolute best FW is. Faber, like Hughes and Torres, dominated when his class was not as deep and despite being in his physical prime he just is getting lost in the rapid rise of talent. I love Urijah and actually picked him to win similar to when Hughes beat an inexpierenced GSP, but Aldo really proved that he needs some new faces to try and take him down, and Manny Gamburyian is not that guy.

[goodtimes]

The most impressive part I thought was Aldo's head movement; Faber didn't really land a single clean shot. His defense looks a lot like Edgar's. After his fight with Sherk, I was incredibly impressed with Edgar's boxing and thought he had what it takes to stand with anyone at LW.

I agree with people saying that the UFC's LW division is much stiffer then the WEC's FW. I think Aldo will definitely have a loss if he moves up in weight, but he should be competitive.

[MetallicKnight3X]

I think Faber had the tools if he didnt stand in front of Aldo. I think someone with the game plan like Edgar when he fought Penn or Dominic Cruz when he fought Bowles would work against Aldo. He likes to stalk like Penn and explode when he wants too. If someone would have constant movement from angles and throwing accurate and fast combos I could see it frustrating Aldo and maybe pulling a decision. BUT Penn vs Aldo would be a HUGE matchup. I would pay money for it most definitely.

[goodtimes]

Originally Posted by MetallicKnight3X

I think Faber had the tools if he didnt stand in front of Aldo. I think someone with the game plan like Edgar when he fought Penn or Dominic Cruz when he fought Bowles would work against Aldo. He likes to stalk like Penn and explode when he wants too. If someone would have constant movement from angles and throwing accurate and fast combos I could see it frustrating Aldo and maybe pulling a decision. BUT Penn vs Aldo would be a HUGE matchup. I would pay money for it most definitely.

I don't know, how does that differ from Faber's strategy in the fight? He threw tons of combos, he just couldn't hit Aldo. He did not push the takedown really, but every time he tried to clinch he ended up on his back. Aldo uses more of a muay thai attack where as Penn focuses on boxing, and Aldo has much better head movement, where as Penn relies on his chin a lot to just walk through shots(like in the Sherk fight).

I think Aldo is like a mini-Anderson Silva; very good skills grappling and in the clinch, and muay thai that's on another level. The style employed by Silva looks unbeatable; I think age will catch up to him eventually but what else can? It may be the same for Aldo. Shogun Rua also comes to mind; awesome muay thai and bjj, he really hurt Machida in that fight and if it wasn't for the "leg kicks don't count" mentality of the judges he would have won the fight.

[BBG]

Originally Posted by goodtimes

I don't know, how does that differ from Faber's strategy in the fight? He threw tons of combos, he just couldn't hit Aldo. He did not push the takedown really, but every time he tried to clinch he ended up on his back. Aldo uses more of a muay thai attack where as Penn focuses on boxing, and Aldo has much better head movement, where as Penn relies on his chin a lot to just walk through shots(like in the Sherk fight).

I think Aldo is like a mini-Anderson Silva; very good skills grappling and in the clinch, and muay thai that's on another level. The style employed by Silva looks unbeatable; I think age will catch up to him eventually but what else can? It may be the same for Aldo. Shogun Rua also comes to mind; awesome muay thai and bjj, he really hurt Machida in that fight and if it wasn't for the "leg kicks don't count" mentality of the judges he would have won the fight.

I completely agree with your assessment. I mentioned something similar here:
http://www.mmanews.com/forums/genera...tml#post709925

I however do NOT think that BJ would win the fight against Aldo if he were to move up to LW. I honestly think he is/was the new beginning of super fighters in MMA. His style and instinct is uncanny.

Personally I want to see another fight and that would be melendez (strikefarce) and BJ. Both stalking styles would make an EPIC fight, with IMO Melendez beating him. Only because BJ doesn't always come out mentally prepared. Once he is put into uncomfortable positions he almost gives up.