Tickets on sale to general public today for UFC 169 in Newark

As a reminder, tickets for the UFC’s Super Bowl weekend card in New Jersey go on sale to the general public today.

UFC 169 features title fights in the main and co-main events. At bantamweight, champion Dominick Cruz (19-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) returns from a long layoff for a title unification fight against interim champ Renan Barao (31-1 MMA, 6-0 UFC). At featherweight, champ Jose Aldo (23-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC) defends his title against top contender Ricardo Lamas (13-2 MMA, 4-0 UFC). In addition, former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir (16-8 MMA, 14-8 UFC) meets former Strikeforce champ Alistair Overeem (36-13 MMA, 1-2 UFC).

UFC 169 takes place Feb. 1 at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and MMAjunkie. The UFC typically has held its Super Bowl weekend card in Las Vegas. But with the NFL’s championship game in nearby East Rutherford the next day, the UFC will change things up for a return to Newark.

Tickets for the general public go on sale today at 10 a.m. ET through Ticketmaster or the Prudential Center box office. Prices range from $50 to $400. Members of the UFC’s Fight Club were able to purchase tickets early on Wednesday, and UFC e-newsletter subscribers had a code to purchase tickets on Thursday.

Cruz returns for the first time since an October 2011 title defense against Demetrious Johnson, who then moved down to flyweight to win the title there after losing to Cruz. Cruz was coaching on Season 15 of “The Ultimate Fighter” opposite nemesis Urijah Faber when he suffered a knee injury that required surgery. That surgery didn’t take, so a second was needed.

Barao won the UFC’s interim title against Faber, then defended the temporary belt in February with a “Submission of the Night” win over Michael McDonald in London and a “Knockout of the Night” win over Eddie Wineland in Toronto. The Brazilian hasn’t lost a fight since his pro debut in 2005, and only a no-contest nearly six years ago separates him from perfection since that first loss. He’s won 21 straight fights and hasn’t lost in 32 straight.

Aldo hasn’t lost in eight years. He brought his WEC title to the UFC to become the promotion’s first featherweight champ and has defended it with wins over Mark Hominick, Kenny Florian, Chad Mendes, Frankie Edgar and, in August, a TKO of “The Korean Zombie,” Chan Sung Jung. Jung got that fight when Anthony Pettis pulled out with an injury.

Lamas was scheduled to meet the “Zombie” at UFC 162. Instead, he will have sat out for 53 weeks at the time of the title fight. The Chicago-area native has won four straight fights since dropping from lightweight. He stopped Matt Grice in June 2011 after a head kick, picked up a “Submission of the Night” bonus for tapping out Cub Swanson at UFC on FOX 1, outpointed Hatsu Hioki in June 2012, and perhaps most impressively, stopped Erik Koch in the second round with vicious elbows at UFC on FOX 6 in January.

The latest UFC 169 card includes:

• Dominick Cruz vs. Renan Barao – bantamweight title unification bout
• Jose Aldo vs. Ricardo Lamas – for featherweight title
• Frank Mir vs. Alistair Overeem
• Chris Cariaso vs. Kyoji Horiguch

For the latest on UFC 169, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Jose Aldo)