As part of the stacked UFC 200 lineup, Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar will lock horns once again, this time for the interim featherweight title. Aldo defeated Edgar by unanimous decision back in 2013 to successfully defend his belt, which he's since lost to Conor McGregor. It's expected that the winner of this match will either face McGregor next, or Conor will vacate his title and either Aldo or Edgar will be promoted to full champion status.
With the fight just one month away, there was a rumor that the Brazilian had suffered an injury in training camp, but Aldo squashed those rumblings and insisted he'll make it to fight night. Aldo's history of fight withdrawals is something that Edgar is fully aware of, as their original UFC 153 matchup was postponed when Jose injured himself in a motorcycle accident. "The Answer" made note of this in an interview with Fox Sports.
"We were supposed to fight earlier and he had a little boo-boo on his foot from a motorcycle accident and we had to reschedule. I highly doubt he's ever fought injured," Edgar said. "If he did, he must fight injured all the time because how much does this guy pull out of fights?"
Aldo has pulled out of fights against Josh Grispi (UFC 125), Erik Koch (UFC 149), Edgar (UFC 153), Chad Mendes (UFC 176), and most recently Conor McGregor (at UFC 189). Edgar is obviously focusing on the Aldo fight, but is confident that he'll be prepared in case his opponent can't make the fight date once again.
"I'm just trying to focus on him but I won't be surprised if that happens, obviously," Edgar said. "You're seeing it happen in every weight class, not just us, but especially with Aldo. Anything can happen.
"I'm just going to train hard for Aldo and if we need to make an adjustment, we can do it on the fly."
UFC 200 is set for July 9th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Daniel Cormier vs. Jon Jones 2 is the main event, while Brock Lesnar makes his return to MMA competition with a co-main event showdown against the heavy-handed Mark Hunt.