Latest Jose Aldo Stories

Perhaps you have not yet heard of Erik Koch of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Here's a quick bio blast: the WEC featherweight is 21, undefeated, and confident.

For more, allow him to introduce himself.

"I think I'm a title contender right now to be honest with you," said Koch, who is 9-0 in his pro career. "I think I'm that good right now. Give me a couple more fights and it'll make me even better. If they offered me a title shot right now, I'd take it. Whoever they give me, I'll fight whoever."

With a record of 15-2, WEC featherweight L.C. Davis is one of MMA's biggest under-the-radar success stories.

After back-to-back wins over Javier Vazquez and Diego Nunes, the 29-year-old has picked up momentum that he hopes to take with him into his next bout, next Saturday's WEC 47 matchup against Deividas Taurosevicius. It marks the first time Davis will appear on the televised portion of a WEC card, and he plans to make it memorable.

But this time will be different for Davis, who recently made a drastic change in his training, leaving behind Iowa and the Pat Miletich camp for a new approach. In a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Davis discussed his long road to the spotlight, his new training regimen, his place in the featherweight division and more.

MMA Fighting recently caught up with Mike Brown at the American Top Team gym in Coconut Creek, Fla., to talk about his recent victory over Anthony Morrison at WEC 46, why he doesn't mind the fact that Urijah Faber is getting a title shot against Jose Aldo before him, fighting Manny Gamburyan at WEC 48 and how he resolved his recent case of identity theft.

Check out the video interview below.

The WEC's entry into the pay-per-view market will happen April 24 at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, Calif., WEC general manager Reed Harris told the AP in a report Wednesday.

WEC 48 will feature a featherweight title bout between champ Jose Aldo against former titleholder Urijah Faber, a lightweight rematch between champ Ben Henderson and Donald Cerrone, and former champ Mike Brown facing Manny Gamburyan in a potential No. 1 featherweight contender bout.

The price tag of the pay-per-view will be $44.99.

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Former World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight champion Mike Brown told MMAFighting.com Friday that he will participate in the WEC's upcoming pay-per-view card.

WEC President Reed Harris said Friday that the upcoming fight between Jose Aldo and Urijah Faber will be the main event for the promotion's first pay-per-view show, most likely in May, and shortly after that announcement, Brown (who was hanging out at the BankAtlantic Center for the Strikeforce Miami weigh-ins) said that he'll be on the card as well.

The upcoming featherweight title fight between champion Jose Aldo and challenger Urijah Faber will be the first pay-per-view fight card in World Extreme Cagefighting history, WEC President Reed Harris said Friday.

With 2010 freshly underway, MMA Fighting takes a look at some of the burning questions facing WEC during this year.

Included in the discussion of the company's yearly outlook are whether WEC will produce a pay-per-view, if they're capable of developing another major star, whether a WEC-UFC merger is likely and more.

Mike Brown is back in the winning column after his first-round submission over Anthony Morrison at WEC 46 in Sacramento, Calif.

The former WEC featherweight champion submitted the WEC newcomer with a rear-naked choke at one minute and 54 seconds of the opening round.

When Mike Brown lost his World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight championship to Jose Aldo in November, he didn't take any time to sulk. He just went to the gym.

"I just went straight back to it -- I didn't even take time off," Brown said this week, as he prepares for his return fight on Sunday night. "Six days later I was already back in the gym hitting the pads. If I lose I'm always motivated to get back to it as soon as possible. If I win I feel like I can relax but if I lose I just want to get back to it."

Rashad Evans probably doesn't get enough credit as one of the truly elite athletes in mixed martial arts. Maybe after his win on Saturday night over Thiago Silva at UFC 108, he will.

Evans showed off his excellent wrestling base in repeatedly taking Silva down on Saturday night, and although he nearly lost the fight in the third round, he showed a lot of heart in weathering some powerful combinations from Silva, one of the light heavyweight division's most dangerous strikers.

And so, even though he needs another win or maybe two before he'll be back in title contention, I have Evans in my list of the Top 10 pound-for-pound fighters in the world, which is below.

We're 10 days away from a very important featherweight card at WEC 46, where three of the best five featherweights in the world will fight: Urijah Faber vs. Rafael Assuncao in a bout that should determine the No. 1 contender, and Mike Brown vs. Anthony Morrison in a bout that should give Brown a relatively easy win after the loss of his featherweight title.

But before we get too deep into that card, let's take a moment to re-shuffle our featherweight rankings in the wake of the New Year's Eve Dynamite 2009 card. Both Masanori Kanehara and Michihiro Omigawa had impressive victories on New Year's Eve, and as a result they've both moved into my featherweight Top 10, which is below.