UFC 169: Aldo vs. Lamas; Cruz out, Faber vs. Barao (Feb 1)

[Bernman]

Yeah it's a weird move for the UFC, especially with Pettis having so much marketing potential. They may aswell flush that down the toilet if Aldo beats him. Similarly Aldo loses and goes back to his old weight class without the unbeatable aura he seems to have now.

Yep, it's short-sighted as hell.

They and fans potentially want to sacrifice a gimpy Pettis, for probably this fight, if not his career, to fulfill this long running super fight dream that's been dashed numerous times in the past and this time would arguably not even fit the qualification for a number of reasons. One is Pettis' health. If he's limping around and a sitting duck to get his surgically repaired pcl exploded by leg kicks, how much of a super fight is it, really? It's just all hype and no substance. It could be Shogun-Forrest, or worse, Shogun-Jones.

But as long as it makes Aldo a bigger draw supposedly. That's kind of a sinister motive, and ironic because Pettis is the one with more marketing potential. Aldo had 3 fights as WEC champ, then 5 as UFC champ, and in his last one he wasn't even the main event to a smaller weight fight. lol

[REDDzone]

Bern - if Pettis is as gimpy as you are describing, he probably shouldn't be fighting Aldo OR Melendez or Khabib... LW is a sharktank with or without Aldo.

[Bernman]

Bern - if Pettis is as gimpy as you are describing, he probably shouldn't be fighting Aldo OR Melendez or Khabib... LW is a sharktank with or without Aldo.

RZ, there are different degrees and types of challenges, and Aldo is tougher in both categories for a gimpy Pettis. Melendez is a level below Aldo as a fighter and wouldn't test Pettis' speed or strength of his grafted ligament nearly as much. It could easily not be too much of an impediment to beat Melendez, but too much against Aldo at the same time. He's got to come back some time and against a high-level opponent, but they don't need to go outside the division to get the toughest possible. Even a healthy Anderson didn't have to fight GSP after he cleared out the division below, or they were artificially protecting him unlike a champion should be.

Manage your potential stars to become one. Don't set them up to fail when they aren't ready. Pettis can fight Aldo eventually. And by eventually I mean a whole 1 fight later after he proves to be the same guy as before. Or if he doesn't, you weren't missing out on anything real. Just an unnecessary beating which could possibly ensure that he'll never be a star in the future after he heals. If Pettis fought Aldo coming straight off the injury, I may not even watch, and it's not like I didn't have confidence in the guy leading up to the first scheduled match-up.

[REDDzone]

RZ, there are different degrees and types of challenges, and Aldo is tougher in both categories for a gimpy Pettis. Melendez is a level below Aldo as a fighter and wouldn't test Pettis' speed or strength of his grafted ligament nearly as much. It could easily not be too much of an impediment to beat Melendez, but too much against Aldo at the same time. He's got to come back some time and against a high-level opponent, but they don't need to go outside the division to get the toughest possible. Even a healthy Anderson didn't have to fight GSP after he cleared out the division below, or they were artificially protecting him unlike a champion should be.

Manage your potential stars to become one. Don't set them up to fail when they aren't ready. Pettis can fight Aldo eventually. And by eventually I mean a whole 1 fight later after he proves to be the same guy as before. Or if he doesn't, you weren't missing out on anything real. Just an unnecessary beating which could possibly ensure that he'll never be a star in the future after he heals. If Pettis fought Aldo coming straight off the injury, I may not even watch, and it's not like I didn't have confidence in the guy leading up to the first scheduled match-up.

I guess my point is, if the dude isn't healthy enough, I would hope he has enough positive influence in his life to not allow him to take the fight. Duke loves the kid, and even if he doesn't, he has financial incentive to not allow Pettis to set himself up for failure (Pettis is now a business partner in roufusport).

I get that he came back a little early against Benson, but that was a title shot when Pettis was a contender, and it took place in his hometown. Now Pettis is champ. If he honestly lets his pride rule to the extent that he comes back on one leg against one of the most feared leg kickers in the game....I would just be at a loss at how reckless and silly that would be.

[Bernman]

I guess my point is, if the dude isn't healthy enough, I would hope he has enough positive influence in his life to not allow him to take the fight. Duke loves the kid, and even if he doesn't, he has financial incentive to not allow Pettis to set himself up for failure (Pettis is now a business partner in roufusport).

I get that he came back a little early against Benson, but that was a title shot when Pettis was a contender, and it took place in his hometown. Now Pettis is champ. If he honestly lets his pride rule to the extent that he comes back on one leg against one of the most feared leg kickers in the game....I would just be at a loss at how reckless and silly that would be.

Unfortunately, as we've talked about before, his management sucks, and while Duke cares about him, he's too much of a nice guy to tell someone they're being an idiot out of pride. And that's what Pettis has a tendency of being. He agrees to fight everyone who calls him out to not look like a coward and wants to be regarded as the greatest today rather than tomorrow. The real questionable early return wasn't the Bendo fight but rather the Thomson one. Leading up to the Bendo fight all he had were less crucial ligament sprains, and he ended up injuring ligaments in the other one during the fight. Those are the ones which he should have babied. Yet he scheduled the Thomson fight before recovering, was prompted to return to training early, and suffered this catastrophic knee re-injury on his first day back. Now he'll probably do it again if he's allowed to. The only people who may stop him ironically are Aldo's fussy camp.

To give you an idea of how bad of an idea it would be to come back in July to fight Aldo, a doctor on UFC Tonight when hearing that and knowing of Pettis' injury, said he'd pray for him. That's a man of science saying he'd be praying. That's pretty telling. Pettis would be even better off relinquishing the title and coming back on his own time. They probably would let him fight for the title upon his return. So he'd never really not be the true champion. But having this technical title of champion not being broken means an irrational amount to fighters. Just look at the way Aldo is acting when being asked to "give up his title" when he'd be moving straight into fighting for another one. So he'd never really not be the true champion either.

[REDDzone]

Unfortunately, as we've talked about before, his management sucks, and while Duke cares about him, he's too much of a nice guy to tell someone they're being an idiot out of pride. And that's what Pettis has a tendency of being. He agrees to fight everyone who calls him out to not look like a coward and wants to be regarded as the greatest today rather than tomorrow. The real questionable early return wasn't the Bendo fight but rather the Thomson one. Leading up to the Bendo fight all he had were less crucial ligament sprains, and he ended up injuring ligaments in the other one during the fight. Those are the ones which he should have babied. Yet he scheduled the Thomson fight before recovering, was prompted to return to training early, and suffered this catastrophic knee re-injury on his first day back. Now he'll probably do it again if he's allowed to. The only people who may stop him ironically are Aldo's fussy camp.

To give you an idea of how bad of an idea it would be to come back in July to fight Aldo, a doctor on UFC Tonight when hearing that and knowing of Pettis' injury, said he'd pray for him. That's a man of science saying he'd be praying. That's pretty telling. Pettis would be even better off relinquishing the title and coming back on his own time. They probably would let him fight for the title upon his return. So he'd never really not be the true champion. But having this technical title of champion not being broken means an irrational amount to fighters. Just look at the way Aldo is acting when being asked to "give up his title" when he'd be moving straight into fighting for another one. So he'd never really not be the true champion either.

Aldo said he wants it at 150, Pettis camp/manager is saying they won't do the fight unless its at 155 because Pettis needs to be defending his belt.

[cowboyronnie]

That's a little uncanny. (Pepper from American Horror Story)