UFC 169: ALDO VS. LAMAS Date: Feb. 1, 2014 Location: Newark, NJ Venue: Preudential Center Broadcast: PPV UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo (-600) Profile: The best featherweight MMA fighter the world has ever seen, UFC champion Jose Aldo (23-1) has no peer. His ferocious leg kicks, superlative takedown defense and incredible MMA skills translate into someone who was last defeated seven years ago and has matured into one of the most feared fighters on the planet. You could say Aldo has cleared out his entire division, sending Urijah Faber down to 135 pounds, retiring Kenny Florian, destroying the skull of Cub Swanson, and changing Mike Brown’s career forever after beating him for the WEC featherweight championship. The 27-year old Brazilian defeated the former lightweight champ Frankie Edgar at UFC 156, then beat up the Korean Zombie at UFC 163 despite a broken foot. After a year of back and forth with the powers that be trying to decide who his number one contender would be, from Anthony Pettis at lightweight or featherweight, the UFC finally decided on the peaking Ricardo Lamas, who will face Aldo at the Super Bowl weekend show at UFC 169. UFC Featherweight Ricardo Lamas (+400) Profile: Ricardo Lamas (13-2) made his way to UFC from the WEC’s lightweight division after experiencing mixed results with a 4-2 mark in the California-based promotion. The highlight of his WEC career is no doubt his first-round knockout of Bendy Casimir by flying knee at WEC 47 on March 6, 2010. In UFC, Lamas decided to make the cut to featherweight and has been undefeated at 4-0 with impressive victories over Matt Grice, Cub Swanson, Hatsu Hioki and Erik Koch. The 30-year-old Chicago area native trains with many notable martial artists at Team Top Notch in Elmhurst, Illinois. He was an All-American Division III wrestler at Elmhurst College and earned a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under world champion Daniel Valverde. Lamas’ stand-up should not be underestimated either, as he also has impressive Muay Thai skills. He is coming off a bloody knockout of Koch at UFC on FOX 6 and figured to be in the mix for a title shot against champion Jose Aldo until the champ decided to take a fight against lightweight contender Anthony Pettis, which then disintegrated into a fight against the Korean Zombie at UFC 162, which was later scratched when The Zombie fought Aldo at UFC 163. Lamas is a powerful man for a featherweight, who will look to his ground and pound to nullify his disadvantages he faces against Aldo on the feet, but he hasn’t fought in over one year now. Opening UFC 169 Analysis: MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas made Aldo a huge -600 favorite (bet $600 to win $100) while Lamas opened as a +400 underdog (bet $100 to win $400) at Several Bookmakers. Lamas most definitely earned his title shot with four-straight wins in the UFC featherweight division, but he matches up poorly against Aldo, and that’s why you see the line this far apart. Although Lamas has great wrestling and ground and pound, Aldo has exceptional takedown defense and if he can keep this fight on the feet, he should be able to score another highlight-reel knockout. However, if Lamas can get the takedowns, he has a chance to pull off a giant upset. But that’s a big if.
