What’s the story?
UFC President Dana White recently appeared on ESPN’s 5ive Rounds podcast, where he revealed that the bout to unify the UFC featherweight title was now finally happening.
Featherweight champion Jose Aldo is scheduled to face the interim champion Max Holloway at UFC 212 on June 3rd in Rio de Janeiro, as confirmed by Brazilian outlet Combate.
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In case you didn’t know...
Jose Aldo won the interim title after he defeated Frankie Edgar at UFC 200. Aldo was waiting for his rematch with the then-featherweight champion Conor McGregor, after he had lost his title to ‘The Notorious’ by getting knocked out in 13 seconds at UFC 194.
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Conor McGregor never defended his belt and after he defeated Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 to become UFC lightweight champion, he was forced to relinquish the title by the promotion and Jose Aldo was promoted as the full champion of the featherweight division.
Also read: UFC News: Max Holloway says he'll defend the interim featherweight title 10 times if need be
On the other hand, Max Holloway has been on a tear in the division himself. He is on a ten-fight winning streak and had won the interim belt when he stopped Anthony Pettis via a third-round TKO at UFC 206.
The heart of the matter
The fight to unify the featherweight title appears to be set. Dana White, while talking to Brett Okamoto of ESPN on his 5ive Rounds podcast, revealed that the matchup is now in place.
White was quoted as saying:
“[Aldo] is going to fight Max Holloway. That fight’s done, too. I don’t remember what date it’s on, but it’s done.
We got that fight done last week. That’s a fun fight. Holloway has looked incredible in his last few fights, and Jose Aldo is Jose Aldo.”
Here’s the tweet by Okamoto confirming the same:
The bout was later confirmed by Combate to be held at UFC 212, but it is yet to be confirmed by UFC officials.
What next?
The fight was initially rumoured to take place at the UFC 208 event in Brooklyn, but Holloway could not accept it due to an ankle injury.
He is also set to make a movie appearance in ‘Den of Thieves’. Jose Aldo and Max Holloway are set to face each other to unify the featherweight title at UFC 212, but we are still waiting for an official announcement on it.
Sportskeeda’s Take
There has been a lot of talk about this fight ever since Conor McGregor was forced to relinquish his title by the UFC.
This fight will finally give us the rightful undisputed featherweight champion and end all of McGregor’s claims of still being the champion of this division.
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