Jose Aldo out of UFC 149, Barao vs. Faber in as main event

UFC 149 headliner Jose Aldo has been forced to withdraw due to injury from his main event fight with Eric Koch for the Featherweight Championship.

UFC 149 will now feature a main event fight for the Interim Bantamweight Championship, as Urijah Faber takes on Renan Barao. This main event is being brought over from UFC 148.

Barao was actually a replacement fighter for champion Dominick Cruz. Cruz, who was featured on the most recent season of the reality show The Ultimate Fighter, was set to fight rival coach Faber, but was forced to pull out with a knee injury.

Due to Aldo’s injury, the UFC is in dire need of a name value to break in to the Calgary market at UFC 149. With Faber they get a marketable and fairly well-known commodity, even up north in Canada. Barao hosts a devastating arsenal of strikes and isn’t afraid to get creative with his delivery. In short, you can expect an exciting fight.

Barao vs. Faber was set to be the co-main event to Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen 2. Now, the co-main event will most likely be Forrest Griffin vs. Tito Ortiz for the third time, in what Ortiz has stated will be the final fight of his career.

 Showdown Joe Ferarro broke the unfortunate story.