Max Holloway vs. Jose Aldo 2 Reportedly New UFC 218 Main Event

Jose Aldo, of Brazil, left, trades punches with Max Holloway, of the United States, during their UFC featherweight mixed martial arts bout in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, early Sunday, June 4, 2017. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Leo Correa/Associated Press

Jose Aldo is reportedly set to replace the injured Frankie Edgar for a featherweight championship fight against Max Holloway in the UFC 218 main event Dec. 2 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan.

Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting passed along word of the card change Saturday. The fight will be rematch of their bout at UFC 212 on June 3, which Holloway won by third-round technical knockout to win the title.

Edgar was forced to withdraw from the event this week because of a fractured orbital bone, per Steven Marrocco of MMAjunkie.

In July, Aldo praised Holloway as a "true champion" and took a shot at former featherweight titleholder Conor McGregor during an interview with Gabriel Monteiro Torres of AGFight.

"He is the true champion; he has his first defense to do," he said. "McGregor has never been a champion of anything. He has won the championship and then has left. A true champion has to defend [the belt]. I'm happy that Holloway is the champion. He's a good guy who did it because he deserves to be where he is."

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Holloway put together one of the most complete performances of his career in the first meeting with Aldo, who was 25-1 in his MMA career before losses to McGregor and the 25-year-old rising star over his last three fights. He did score a unanimous-decision victory over Edgar between those defeats.

"[Aldo] had everything I wanted. He had the long reign," Holloway told reporters after his UFC 212 win. "Now it's time for the 'Blessed' era. Nothing but respect for the man. He's been the champ, and it showed today why he was on top for so long, so nothing but congratulations to him. But this is a new era."

The immediate rematch will give the Hawaii native an opportunity to back up those comments with a second straight victory over the longtime champ.

Meanwhile, Aldo is taking the fight on short notice but still has three weeks to prepare as he attempts to regain his throne atop the featherweight division.

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