José Aldo at UFC Rio 2 / UFC publicity photo
UFC Rio 3 promised to be an honest show, but a new, Jiu-Jitsu brown belt, call-up has elevated UFC 153 to super-event status. José Aldo will take on former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar, who stepped in for an injured Erick Koch.
André Pederneiras, the featherweight champion’s coach, took the news in stride. “I got a call from Sean Shelby, the UFC matchmaker, at around midnight. He said Erick Koch had gotten injured and that Frankie Edgar would take his place. I was surprised, if just because of the late hour, but seeing as there’s still enough time to change the strategy, even with his game being completely different from Koch’s, I feel we’ll be successful once again,” Dedé is quoted as saying on sportv.com.
“Now I’m going to sit down and rethink my plans regarding the athletes I imported—they’re southpaws and the old opponent’s height. What I’ll have to do is hire some wrestlers who’re as tall as Edgar is. Gray Maynard coming will be more important than ever. I feel Edgar will be just as fast at featherweight as he was at his old weight,” adds the coach.
This will be Edgar’s first fight at featherweight, having decided to drop a weight class following his second loss to Ben Henderson.
UFC Rio 3 is set to go down October 13 at the HSBC in Rio de Janeiro.
Check out how the card looks now:
UFC 153 – ALDO VS EDGAR
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2012
HSBC ARENA, BARRA DA TIJUCA, RIO DE JANEIRO
José Aldo vs Frankie Edgar
Quinton Rampage vs Glover Teixeira
Jon Fitch vs Erick Silva
Phil Davis vs Wagner Caldeirão
Demian Maia vs Rick Story
Rony Jason vs Sam Sicilia
Gabriel Napão vs Geronimo Mondragon
Diego Brandão vs Joey Gambino
Gleison Tibau vs Francisco Massaranduba
Sergio Moraes vs Renee Forte
Luiz Banha vs Chris Camozzi
Cristiano Marcello vs Reza Madadi
