UFC 156: With a “galactic” card, José Aldo defends his featherweight belt this Saturday

With a galactic card, full of Brazilian athletes, the day has arrived for one of the most anticipated events by MMA fans. The city of Las Vegas hosts, this Saturday (02), UFC 156. In the main fight of the night, José Aldo defends the featherweight belt against the American Frankie Edgar. Rogério Minotouro, Antonio Pezão, Demian Maia and Gleison Tibau complete the Tupiniquim team on the show.

The main fight

The fight between Aldo, featherweight champion, and Edgar, former owner of the lightweight belt, should have taken place at UFC Rio 3, in October 2012. But the Tupiniquim athlete suffered a motorcycle accident and the duel ended up postponed. Now, almost four months after the first date, the clash between the fighters is surrounded by much expectation among fans of the sport.

“We’re in the top 10 pound-for-pound, and we were both considered top five pound-for-pound. If it were in boxing, it would be called a mega-fight. You can argue that it's worth the featherweight belt, but yes, it's a super fight and we're going to treat it like that,” said Edgar.

In turn, Aldo, despite praising his rival, guaranteed that his stay in the featherweight category will be short. “He's a great opponent, he's already shown his value, but I'm going to take him back to the top (category), said Aldo.

Brazilians at the event

Besides José Aldo, four other Brazilians will appear at UFC 156. In the second most important fight of the night, Rogério Minotouro tries to score another victory in Ultimate against Rashad evans, former light heavyweight champion. In one of the most anticipated fights of the show, the Paraíba native Antonio Pezão face the dutch alistair overeem. Demian Maia tries to maintain his good form at welterweight against the tough Jon Fitch, while Gleison Tibau measures up against Evan dunham of the show's preliminary card.

Check out the complete UFC 156 card below, which will be broadcast live on the Combate channel from 21pm:

Main Card

Up to 65,8 kg.: José Aldo (65,8 kg.) vs. Frankie Edgar (65,3 kg.)

Up to 93 kg.: Rashad evans (93,5 kg.) vs. Rogério Minotouro (93,5 kg.);

Up to 120 kg.: alistair overeem (120 kg.) vs. Antonio Pezão (119 kg.);

Up to 77,1 kg.: Jon Fitch (77,6 kg.) vs. Demian Maia (77,1 kg.);

Up to 56,7 kg.: Joseph Benavidez (57,2 kg.) vs. Ian McCall (56,7 kg.);

Preliminary Card

Up to 70,3 kg.: Evan dunham (70,3 kg.) vs. Gleison Tibau (70,3 kg);

Up to 77,1 kg.: Jay Hieron (76,2 kg.) vs. Tyron woodley (77,1 kg.);

Up to 70,3 kg.: Bobby Green (70,3 kg.) vs. Jacob Volkmann;

Up to 70,3 kg.: Yves Edwards (70,3 kg.) vs. Isaac Vallie-Flagg;

Up to 61,2 kg.: Chico Camus  (60,8 kg.) vs. Dustin Kimura (63,3 kg.)*;

Up to 61,2 kg.: Edwin Figueroa (62,4 kg.) vs. Francisco Rivera (62,4 kg.)*;