UFC 142: Time for Jose Aldo to Prove He Has What It Takes to Be a Headliner

"Is he fighting tonight?" was the cry from my MMA novice friend when the UFC played a Jose Aldo video package during its coverage of UFC 124 last November.

The company had only recently made its decision to bring Aldo and the rest of his WEC cohorts into its ranks, and UFC was keen to promote its new asset, not a particularly difficult thing to do considering the Brazilian featherweights happy knack of posting highlight-reel finishes.

But then more than a year passed and Aldo had yet to headline a UFC event, pay-per-view or otherwise. That will change Saturday at UFC 142, and it's a pivotal moment in his career.

Chad Mendes will be Aldo's toughest UFC challenger.

Mark Hominick just couldn't deal with the young champion's varied and precise stand-up arsenal, despite the Canadian's spirited late fightback.

Kenny Florian was a different challenge, but his extreme weight cut meant he didn't have the strength to impose his stifling game plan long enough into the fight to ask any serious questions.

Mendes, although a justified underdog, has the athleticism, work rate and talent to push Aldo to the limit.

While the champ has a clear path to victory in defending takedowns and scoring points with his in-and-out stand-up bursts, is that really going to be enough for nearly 20,000 amped-up Brazilian fans? They will be willing on one of their own on to show them one of the deadly Muay Thai finishes that Aldo was posting for fun in his mind-boggling WEC run.

So far in his UFC career, Aldo hasn't shown the stellar form that had him firmly installed as a consensus top three pound-for-pound fighter around the time of his entry into the organization.

He seemed content to cruise to decisions in his last two fights, and perhaps most disappointingly to his fellow countrymen chose to simply hold on to Hominick when taken down in their bout, rather than try to work some of his much-vaunted but seldom seen Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Aldo undoubtedly is capable of bringing the excitement that can make him a top draw in the UFC for years to come. If the crowd at UFC 142 is anywhere near as flat-out awesome as it was upon the organization's last visit to Brazil at UFC 136, Aldo should be able to feed off and channel that energy into a more exhilarating and hopefully break-out performance.

If he doesn't, will he be relegated back to co-main event status? I wouldn't bet against it.