Aldo/Koch Going Down at UFC153

Drag, I was really hoping to see Jose Aldo defend his belt against The Korean Zombie before the end of the year, but with Zombie going under the knife for shoulder surgery it looks like we’ll be waiting a little while longer. Aldo will instead be paired up with his original opponent, Erik Koch, at UFC 153 in Rio this October. This fight feels the MMA equivalent of the “busy work” teachers would give you in high school. I’m sure Koch is excited for it, but he’s probably the only one. Although I will say this, with all the injuries plaguing the UFC and the stagnation of the Welterweight division and the imminent log jam coming to the Bantamweight division, it is nice to see the Featherweights still going strong, even if there is a lack of exciting title challengers at 145.

Fighter Futures: Chad "Money" Mendes

Dana White stopped just short of apologizing to Mendes for wasting his time with Cody McKenzie during the post-fight press conference at UFC148. There are a couple fights that make sense for the featherweight following his win, but there is one in particular I am pulling for: Erik Koch. The way I see it any fire burning for an Aldo/Koch fight was extinguished by the Korean Zombie, who in all likelihood will be getting the next crack at the title. A rebound win over McKenzie is not enough to become the number one contender, especially since Mendes was just KO’d by Aldo in January. Let Aldo fight Zombie so we have a FW title fight with some actual hype people can get behind, and let Koch/Mendes duke it out in a title eliminator to prove their deserving of Aldo.