UFC Featherweight Champ Jose Aldo Says Korean Zombie Deserves UFC 163 Title Shot

Injuries happen in every sport, especially in contact sports.  They are certainly prevalent in mixed martial arts.

UFC champion Jose Aldo was originally scheduled to put his featherweight title on the line for the seventh time against Anthony Pettis at UFC 163 on Aug. 3, but an injury forced Pettis out of the fight.  “The Korean Zombie,” Chan Sung Jung, replaced Pettis, and Aldo had to make adjustments in his training camp and to his game plan due to the switch of opponents.

“I was already in the groove of training for Pettis, but unfortunately, he got hurt, so we did have to adjust a few things.  They have different styles. But I was already training, and I was already prepared, so just adjusting those final details,” Aldo said recently.

When Jung was named as Pettis’ replacement, some felt Ricardo Lamas, who is ranked higher than Jung, was more deserving of the title fight.  Lamas and Jung were slated to meet at UFC 162, but the fight dematerialized when Jung accepted the title fight with Aldo.

Who is more deserving or less deserving doesn’t matter to Aldo, but he believes Jung deserves the shot.

“I think this fight is a very good fight. He deserves to be there and he’s shown that he deserves to be the contender,” said the champion.  “Everyone wants to fight for the title, but right now, he deserves it.”

UFC 163: Aldo vs. Korean Zombie takes place at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  Headlined by the featherweight title bout, the fight card also features a light heavyweight co-main event match-up between former champion Lyoto Machida and Phil Davis that has top contender ramifications.