Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar 1: Revisiting UFC 156

UFC 200 has long been tagged as the biggest UFC pay-per-view since UFC 100 back in July 2009 and the promotion is doing its damnedest to live up to the fans' bumper expectations and the precedent set seven years ago.

Arch-rivals Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir went toe-to-toe as the headliner at UFC 100, with dominant welterweight champion of the time Georges St. Pierre's bout with the dangerous Thiago Alves serving as the co-main event. July 2009 was a simpler time. Lesnar, who had just won the heavyweight title against Randy Couture, was a huge name and had already lost to Frank Mir in controversial circumstances. In the meantime, Mir had won the interim heavyweight title against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. The pair hated one another. GSP and Alves, however, had no real rivalry to speak of.

By the time July 9th 2016 arrives, there will have been a century of PPV's since UFC 100 and the waters have since been muddied somewhat.

Following his second round loss to MMA's latest darling in Nate Diaz at UFC 196; Conor McGregor was widely expected to move from his temporary home at welterweight back down to the 145lbs featherweight limit to make his first defence of his undisputed UFC featherweight title—either against Frankie Edgar or in a rematch against his biggest foe in Jose Aldo. Instead, rather inexplicably, McGregor will get a rematch of his own against his sole conqueror within the confines of the Octagon in Diaz.

Both Aldo and Edgar fervently argued their cases for a shot at McGregor. But, in an apparent attempt to appease both men while McGregor continues to gallivant in the heavier weight classes, the pair will get their chance at fighting for the interim featherweight title against one another—a rematch of their contest back at UFC 156 at the beginning of 2013.

As above, prominent UFC fighters have voiced their bemusement at the pairing of Edgar and Aldo for the second time. However, in reality, this fight is clearly a compromise worth coming to considering how both Edgar and Aldo had stated their unwilling to fight anyone else shy of a title shot—it may not be the opponent both men had in mind, but it's for the same reward they had hoped for.

Where Aldo sought retribution against McGregor for his devastating 13-second knockout loss, Edgar only ever wanted another crack at the featherweight title which has eluded him in his quest to become one of the very few two-weight UFC champions—no matter the opponent.

UFC 156 saw the pair fight for the first time in Las Vegas. But, is there anything to be learned from that event?

After a competitive five-round bout, Aldo emerged the victor scoring a unanimous decision victory with the scorecards reading 49-46, 49-46, 48-47 in favour of the Brazilian. However, those numbers do not tell of the complexities of any fight, let alone one featuring a game Frankie Edgar.

It may have been a unanimous decision win for Aldo, but the fight was competitive throughout. Aldo made a concerted effort to try and stifle the fabled footwork and wily movement of Edgar with piercing jabs and some thunderous leg kicks. The way Aldo controlled Edgar with a full gas tank was expertly executed. It was a comfortable first two rounds for Aldo with Edgar struggling to find his range and the timing of his opponent, though the American's will never wavered.

Aldo, meanwhile, clearly showed signs of tiring in the third round and Edgar began to grow into the fight. New Jersey native Edgar probably didn't do enough to steal the middle stanza of the fight, but it was evident he was getting in the groove to dethrone the dominant featherweight champion. The third round was, in fact, scored for Aldo, but that doesn't mean it was a debatable five minutes of action.

The final two rounds were most definitely the best of the fight for Edgar. The fourth round saw Edgar seize on the visibly slowing Aldo, darting in and out with flurried combinations mixed in with some takedowns against a fighter who is renowned for having the best takedown defence in all of mixed martial arts. As Edgar's superior conditioning told, the fifth round followed a similar pattern as he continued to tag Aldo with numerous combinations, though Aldo appeared to gain a second wind of sorts and fired off shots of his own. In my opinion, Edgar won the fifth round (rendering my completely useless scorecard 48-47 for Aldo), though two of the judges—the ones whose opinion do matter—scored that round in the Brazilian's favor.

Five round championship fights exist for a reason. But, you can't help but feel Edgar was gradually getting the better of Aldo as time wore on—alas time expired just as "The Answer" had found the answer for Aldo himself.

Based on the first fight, MMA math tells you that Aldo should earn the victory come July 9th at the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. But, we know that logic is flawed—especially when there's Frankie Edgar in the mix: just look at what happened in his classic contests against Gray Maynard.

Much has changed in the three years since the first meeting between the pair. Aldo is no longer champion, but he did defend his belt three more times against top featherweight names in Chan Sung Jung, Ricardo Lamas and in his rematch against Chad Mendes—the latter of which was a close fight, but Aldo's grittiness and heart proved he was worthy of his status as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in all of MMA.

Meanwhile, Edgar has been on a seemingly unstoppable tear in the featherweight division. Riding a five-fight winning streak against some of the biggest names the 145lbs weight class has to offer, Edgar managed to shake off the indignation and heartbreak of losing three close decisions for UFC championships in a row, with the Aldo loss following the two controversial decision losses dropped against Benson Henderson. In that time, Edgar has also managed to absolve himself of being tagged as a point fighter and as a notoriously slow starter in his fights. These are helped by finishing the likes of Chad Mendes, Cub Swanson and BJ Penn, as well as earning comfortable decision victories over Charles Oliveira and Urijah Faber.

While there is no real ill-will between Aldo and Edgar stemming from before or after UFC 156, Aldo did tell FOX Sports that Edgar posed no problems in the cage. After saying he was slow and had little punching power, Aldo said: "I believe I won every round. In the fourth round, he was dominant for about a minute when he threw me down and caught my back, but after that, I came back to a dominant position and controlled the center of the ring. I was very comfortable, so I thought I won every round."

Edgar courteously disagrees. Both 'Edgar' (or his manager Ali Abdelaziz) and Aldo put a lot of focus in trash talking McGregor to earn that big money fight for UFC 200. But, at the end of February, perhaps knowing something us MMA underlings didn't know at the time, Edgar spoke to ESPN about the Aldo fight back in 2013: "All my fights I've lost have been very, very close. There's never been a fight where I've gotten blown out, or haven't been in. I mean, I could even argue, that I think I won that Aldo fight. I out-struck him rounds two, four and five. You know, took him down three times to none. It was a close fight; my first fight down at 145. I think I've improved. I'm not looking to fight Aldo yet, I want to fight McGregor for that 145-pound title, but I'd love a chance to get some redemption at Aldo as well."

It would be ill-advised to expect a slanging match between Edgar and Aldo. After all, it was the mutual foe in Conor McGregor which had initiated any morsel of trash talk from either man in the first place. But, the rematch between Aldo and Edgar is one of those fights which sells itself.

No matter what your opinion may be concerning the headline fight slated for UFC 200 and how this featherweight interim title fight came about, the nature of the first bout between Aldo and Edgar and the stories both men have been a part of since makes this contest more than worthy of its prominent placing on the bill. Can Edgar finally realise his dream of becoming a two-weight champion? How will Aldo respond in the cage after suffering such a devastating loss to McGregor? How will the second fight compare to their first? All of these questions will be answered on July 9th and will most definitely lead to some intriguing conclusions.