WFA EXPERIENCE: None.
WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE BOUT: “Pele” is a legend in MMA and has been fighting in the sport since 1993. He has superior striking skills and is deadly with knees in the clinch. He is also the ultimate showman. If you’ve never seen one of his fights, he is “on” from the moment he arrives. Landi-Jons has ground skills but he prefers to settle it standing. He has also won three eight-man and one four-man tournaments that I know of, so he’s unquestionably the real deal.
AGUILAR: 5’10”, 185 pounds, 00 years old, Tijuana, Mexico
BACKGROUND: Edwin is a Mexican National Kickboxing Champion and a Mexican Vale Tudo Champion. He fights out of Tijuana Mexico with Team Cordeiro and has a professional record of 8-6 in MMA.
WFA EXPERIENCE: None.
WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE BOUT: He has good stand-up striking. Aguilar is one of those fighters that only loses to top competition. Many of his losses are to PRIDE and UFC veterans. He also looks to be in killer shape and was voted to have the “best physique” at the PRIDE U.S. auditions held in Los Angeles in November ’04.
OVERALL OPINION OF MATCH: Good. “Pele” hasn’t fought on American soil since 2000 when he took on Pat Miletich (Pictures) and Dave Menne (Pictures) at the WEF shows. He’s fought sporadically since and hasn’t really been a factor in the middleweight division for some time. It is a shame he couldn’t return to the States when he was still in his prime. Aguilar is a tough customer. He lost the United World Muay Thai Association light heavyweight championship belt by split decision in a war with Bas Rutten (Pictures) student Amir Rahnavardi (Pictures). We’ll definitely see some fireworks in the clinch. Edwin recently took out B.J. Penn (Pictures) student Jay Carter (Pictures) and he has worked with Dean Lister (Pictures) so maybe he’ll have some surprises on the ground.