Jose Aldo vs. Chan Sung Jung Results: What's Next for the Champion?

Jose Aldo lived up to his billing as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world yet again Saturday night after finishing off the gritty Chan Sung Jung via fourth-round TKO at UFC 163.

It was Aldo's second career finish in a UFC title fight, but one that came to fruition after the "Korean Zombie" blew his own shoulder out while punching.

In any case, Aldo produced another tantalizing performance on the back of blazing speed, raw power, well-rounded ground skills and unmatched athleticism.

Following his fourth straight featherweight title defense, what can we expect next from one of Brazil's biggest names?

Recuperation

Considering Jose Aldo went four rounds with Chan Sung Jung at UFC 163 following a five-round battle opposite Frankie Edgar back in February, the featherweight king has to be tired.

You don't exhaust yourself through nine rounds then get up and walk away like nothing happened. As a matter of fact, 2013 has been Aldo's second-busiest year of action in his career—he fought 10 rounds in 2011.

The point here is that the young phenom needs some well-deserved rest. And considering the UFC already has the remainder of the year mapped out with intriguing title fight after intriguing title fight, Aldo can take in his success and enjoy the sidelines for the time being.

Ricardo Lamas

Ricardo "The Bully" Lamas is probably the biggest threat to Jose Aldo in the UFC featherweight division. Now, that doesn't mean that Lamas would win, but his raw power and innate ability to attack bell-to-bell would give the champion problems for sure.

But what the company needs to realize is that Lamas isn't the most popular name in the UFC. He possesses top-notch potential, but casual fans don't take to him like a Frankie Edgar, Chad Mendes or a guy nicknamed Korean Zombie.

In Lamas' case, the UFC needs to play its cards right and promote him without flaw. Once it can do that—whether that means making him win one more fight or not—Aldo will have his hands full in another exciting title defense.

Chad Mendes II

The UFC featherweight division is so stacked it's not even funny. Any fighter in the top five could get a shot at Jose Aldo, and nobody would second-guess it.

That's what makes a Chad Mendes-Aldo rematch that much more exciting.

Mendes is currently riding a three-fight win streak since losing to the champion at UFC 142 by a last-second knee in the first round. But what makes his recent success even more impressive and title-shot worthy is the fact that Mendes has finished each of those three bouts by first-round knockout or TKO.

He has effectively squashed the competition.

While the UFC would rather go with Ricardo Lamas, Frankie Edgar or even Cub Swanson, another early finish for Mendes would put the fairly fresh Aldo loss on the back burner.

Look out, Clay Guida.

Cub Swanson

For a guy who has racked off five straight divisional victories, including four finishes, Cub Swanson seems like the best bet to take on Jose Aldo next.

The only problem is that Aldo defeated Swanson in no more than eight seconds at WEC 41 back in 2009. Now, while that was a very long time ago in MMA years, the flying-knee finish is still one of Aldo's biggest highlight-reel knockouts.

You can make the argument that a rematch would produce a serious following because of that infamous knockout and Swanson's recent resurgence, but you could also make the argument that Aldo shouldn't be fighting guys he's already beaten in the blink of an eye.

So whatever the UFC is going to do, it's going to do. Swanson definitely deserves a shot, but if Aldo opts to take Lamas instead, or move up to lightweight, would anyone blame him?

Frankie Edgar II

To give Frankie Edgar yet another shot at champion Jose Aldo would be simply irresponsible.

However, as we've seen in the past, the UFC is more than happy enough to leapfrog more deserving title contenders in favor of making the big bucks. And despite his recent woes when it comes to capturing UFC gold, Edgar is still Aldo's best opportunity to boost revenue for every party involved.

With all of that said, the UFC would look like morons if it gave Edgar another shot at the belt after just one win following his previous loss to Aldo.

That means the former lightweight champion has to beat a top contender, maybe Cub Swanson, in order to get his revenge on the pound-for-pound phenom.

Lightweight Superfight

With contender after contender chomping at the bit to get a piece of his glory, it doesn't seem too intelligent for featherweight champion Jose Aldo to move to lightweight at this very moment.

It's bound to happen in the future, and I'm sure he'll have immediate success, but there's just too much going on in his own backyard to leave and try to hold two belts at once.

But just because it doesn't seem like a good idea doesn't mean Aldo isn't going to do it.

He was already set to battle Anthony Pettis for the featherweight title Saturday night before Pettis went down with an injury, so why couldn't he jump up to lightweight to fight Pettis if Benson Henderson is defeated at UFC 164 later this month?

It makes sense and it doesn't. If any one of the names on this list absolutely dominates in their next fight, then Aldo should stay. But if he's going to be fending off stagnant versions of Frankie Edgar, Cub Swanson and Chad Mendes for the next two years, he should leave.

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