Sherdog’s Top 10: Canceled Fights

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5. Jose Aldo vs. Anthony Pettis
UFC 163 | Aug. 3, 2013

For all of his incredible talent, Aldo has never really caught on as a star and a draw beyond the hardcore fans and a strong contingent in his adopted home of Rio de Janeiro. A fight with Pettis, whose “Showtime Kick” is arguably the single-greatest MMA highlight of all-time, would have gone a long way toward putting Aldo over.

With the downfall of Anderson Silva, Aldo holds the crown as the most accomplished and lethal striker in MMA, and Pettis is not far behind.

Both boast incredible athleticism and speed that borders on the unthinkable, and both are capable of finishing a fight at any time. Simply put, from a matchup perspective there are few more compelling hypothetical fights in the history of MMA.

Following his ignominious loss to Clay Guida, Pettis rattled off three straight wins, the last two by devastating high- and body-kick knockout, while Aldo had already defended his UFC featherweight title four times. The fight was announced almost six months out, just after Pettis had destroyed Donald Cerrone’s liver and Aldo took a hard-fought decision from Frankie Edgar, in order to give plenty of time to promote the bout.

In mid-June, however, Pettis was forced to pull out of the fight with a knee injury, and Chan Sung Jung was booked to replace him. Shortly thereafter, Pettis was re-booked to fight Benson Henderson for the lightweight title, and the rest is history. Given the persistent talk about Aldo moving up to lightweight, however, perhaps we might still see this fight go down. We can only hope.

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