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UFC 179: Aldo vs. Mendes 2 was a mixed martial arts event held on October 25, 2014, at Ginásio do Maracanãzinho in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The event was headlined by a Featherweight Championship rematch between the current champion José Aldo, and top contender Chad Mendes. Their first fight at UFC 142, also contested in Rio de Janeiro, ended in a first round knockout victory in favor of Aldo.
The headliner was originally scheduled to take place on August 2, 2014, at UFC 176. However, on July 2, Aldo pulled out of the fight citing a neck injury suffered during training. Subsequent to Aldo's injury, that event was postponed on July 8, when the UFC announced they were unable to replace the original main event fight and with less than a month before the event, the decision was made to postpone the event - though the promotion said the numbering scheme for already scheduled pay-per-views after it, including UFC 177 in Sacramento on August 30, would remain in consecutive order. That entire fight card was re-booked for other events
UFC 179 brought fight fans an exciting title fight as Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes faced off in a long-awaited rematch.
The do-over has been years in the making. While Aldo won the original fight by knockout with a devastating knee in the first round, Mendes had been making fighter after fighter look completely overmatched.
Entering the fight, the question was how much had Mendes improved relative to the champ? He certainly demonstrated a better-polished game. While Mendes had little to offer other than a big right hand and a strong double-leg takedown back in 2012, he showed a more diverse striking attack, complemented by his strong wrestling.
Ultimately, though, Aldo was still too much for the other guy named "Money." With his signature jab and impregnable takedown defense, he got the better of the majority of exchanges and racked up points en route to a unanimous 49-46 decision win.
The question of "what did we learn from this fight?" can be answered in many ways.
Jose Aldo showed he was still capable of rising above a game challenger, something we haven't seen him do (or have to do) in years. The champ cruised to unimpressive wins over Chan-Sung Jung and Ricardo Lamas with little effort. Some, most notably the mouthy then-contender Conor McGregor, speculated that this was a sign that he had reached a technical plateau.