On the day that the Ultimate Fighting Championship released its new fighter rankings, they’ve also decided to completely ignore them in an effort to make an exciting fight that is going to grab headlines across the mixed martial arts community.
Reported by multiple outlets it seems that Anthony Pettis will be the next man to face featherweight kingpin Jose Aldo.
During the press conference after UFC 156 where Aldo defeated former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar, UFC President Dana White mentioned that Pettis had reached out to him through text about dropping the ten pounds to fight the Brazilian champion.
Pettis is currently considered the number one contender at lightweight and is set to face the champion of the Benson Henderson – Gilbert Melendez bout that is planned for April 7th. However, Pettis has been in this position in the past only to be uprooted from that contender’s slot. Instead of waiting around, he has caused enough commotion in the MMA world to be awarded a fight in a weight class he hasn’t competed in while in the UFC. Pettis is a walking highlight reel in the cage, coming off of a first round knockout victory over Donald Cerrone at UFC on Fox 6.
This isn’t the UFC’s first time forgoing rankings to make interesting matchups as they have recently given the fight community Aldo versus Edgar and have Chael Sonnen facing Jon Jones later this year.
Jose Aldo versus Anthony Pettis is set for an unnamed event in August.
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