The featherweight king of mixed martial arts has retained his crown, and done it easily.World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight champion Jose Aldo landed a huge uppercut and a few more punches on the ground to beat Manny Gamburyan by technical knockout in the second round of their main-event bout at WEC 51.
"In the first round I was just studying to see what I could do, and then in the second round I put all the work that we've done in the gym into the cage, and I was able to knock him out," the Brazilian Aldo said in the cage afterward, through his translator. "If it's up to me my reign will last forever."
Gamburyan's boxing looked good in the early going, as he surprised Aldo by landing a few punches in the first minute of the first round. Aldo then landed some of his trademark leg kicks, and those backed Gamburyan off and made him tentative. It wasn't quite the action-packed first round that the fans wanted, and both fighters were booed as they headed to their corners.
Gamburyan came out aggressively in the first round, going for a single-leg takedown, but Aldo had no trouble pulling free. And then, a minute and a half into the second round, Aldo landed a devastating right uppercut to the chin that caused Gamburyan to fall face-first to the canvas. That's where Aldo showed his killer instinct, pouncing on Gamburyan and finishing him off.
Aldo improved his pro MMA reocrd to 18-1 and showed once again that he's the best 145-pound fighter in the world, by a large margin. Gamburyan, the former UFC lightweight whose career seemed to be reinvigorated when he dropped down to featherweight, falls to 11-5 in his MMA career. Gamburyan is a good fighter, but Aldo is in a whole different class from Gamburyan -- and from every other featherweight in MMA.
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