José Aldo earned the feather belt of the WEC in November of 2009. Less than two months later, on January 9th, the champion will already know who his next opponent will be, against whom he will play his title for the first time. This because on that date, former-champion Urijah Faber and the up-and-coming fighter Raphael Assunção will be in action in California.
Faber in the second fight against Mike Brown. Photo: Josh Hedges.
The winner of the match at WEC 46 will be the next challenger. Faber, former-champion of the category, lost his title to Mike Brown. After beating Jens Pulver, the “California Kid” tried to recover the belt, but was again defeated by Brown. On the other side will be Raphael, brother of the former-UFC Junior Asunção. The fighter lost only once in 15 matches and has already won two fights at WEC.
On the possibility of facing Aldo for the title, Faber keeps his feet on the ground:
“I don’t want to get too excited about a fight with Aldo. I have another Brazilian blockhead to try to knock down. We’ll see how it goes. I hope for an excellent performance and for the big belt back in 2010,” says Faber to MMAWeekly.
WEC 46
January 9th, 2009
Champ Jamie Varner vs Benson Henderson
Raphael Assuncao vs Urijah Faber
Dave Jansen vs Kamal Shalorus
Mike Brown vs Anthony Morrison
Mackens Semerzier vs Deividas Taurosevicius
Akitoshi Tamura vs Charlie Valencia
Bryan Caraway vs Mark Hominick
Wagnney Fabiano vs Clint Godfrey
George Roop vs Eddie Wineland
Will Campuzano vs Coty Wheeler