Jose Aldo Injured, UFC 149 Title Fight Against Erik Koch Postposed, Urijah Faber vs. Renan Barao Set As New Headliner

The unbelievable streak of injuries for the Ultimate Fighting Championship continued, as featherweight champion Jose Aldo is the latest victim to be bit by the injury bug. The Brazilian has been forced out of his UFC 149 main event title defense against Erik Koch due to an undisclosed injury.

Aldo’s withdrawal from the event was confirmed in a press release by the UFC, and the bout is now expected to be postposed to a later date.

In place of Aldo vs. Koch, the UFC 148 co-main event interim bantamweight championship bout between Urijah Faber and Renan Barao has been pushed up to headline the July 21 event.

Faber (26-5) established himself as the number one contender in the bantamweight division with a dominant win over Brian Bowles at UFC 139 last November. He was scheduled to fight undisputed bantamweight champion

Dominick Cruz at the conclusion of their coaching stint on “The Ultimate Fighter: Live”, but after Cruz suffered a knee injury, the two rivals were forced to wait to settle the score between them.

Barao (28-1, 1 NC) was originally slated to face Ivan Menjivar on the preliminary portion of the UFC 148 card, but is now presented with the opportunity of a lifetime as he has the opportunity to fight for the bantamweight championship in place of Dominick Cruz. Barao is currently riding an unprecedented 25-fight unbeaten streak with a 3-0 record inside the UFC. After losing the first fight of his career, the Brazilian has evolved into one of the best bantamweight fighters on the planet and has the chance to become the second champion out of the Nova Uniao gym alongside UFC featherweight champion, Jose Aldo.

UFC 149 goes down July 21 from the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

The get the latest on UFC 149, click here. For up-to-date versions of all upcoming fight cards, head over to the rumors section.

Mike Bohn, founder and lead writer of FightCove.com, wrote this article. You can follow Mike on Twitter at @FightCoveMike. Also, follow @FightCove on Twitter and “Like” Fight Cove on Facebook.