UFC 169: 3 things you need to know

Two titles will be on the line when the UFC travels to Newwark, New Jersey on Super Bowl weekend for UFC 169: Barao vs. Faber.

Here are three things you need to know:

This may be Jose Aldo's swan song at 145

Jose Aldo, the most dominant fighter in the history of the featherweight division, may be throwing his final leg kick at 145 pounds on Saturday. The Nova Uniao product, who has rung up 15 straight wins including a 5-0 run in the UFC, is the subject of rumors involving his vacating of the featherweight title to move up and chuck knucks with lightweight champion Anthony Pettis.

Although these rumors have been percolating for months now, if 'Scarface' is able to get past Ricardo Lamas, the table is neatly set to see Aldo slide into a faux "Champion vs. Champion" scrap that would have Dana White salivating at the possibility of ultra-violence.

“I have to win on Saturday but to fight Pettis in a different weight class, it’s going to be a new challenge, and of course I might consider the possibility,” Aldo told Fox Sports through an interpreter. “It’s not up to me right now. I would of course discuss it with my coach, but of course it’s a possibility.”

Josh Thomson's loss to Benson Henderson last week coupled with T.J Grant's continuing concussion issues leave the door wide open for Aldo to swoop in and make an immediate impact on the lightweight division.

A "new" bantamweight champion will be crowned

Former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz may be the most injury cursed athlete in professional sports. Cruz hasn't been in the Octagon since a win over Demetrious Johnson in 2011. Since then, Johnson has dropped down a weight class, won a title, and has competed six times, while Cruz has had two ACL surgeries and a groin injury, completely derailing his championship run.

While Cruz has been on the shelf, Renan Barao has laid waste to the 135 pound division, winning six straight in the UFC including a one-sided decision victory over former WEC featherweight kingpin Urijah Faber in July 2012. After the win over 'The California Kid', Barao was named the interim bantamweight champion, setting up an eventual clash with Cruz.

A clash that may never happen.

With Cruz nursing his latest injury, the 'interim' label has been removed from Barao's title, making UFC 169, a re-match against Faber, his first chance to prove himself as the true bantamweight champion.

Since losing to Barao, Urijah Faber has seemingly bathed in the fountain of youth, adding wrinkles to his game that were absent during his championship years in the WEC.

The 34-year-old Team Alpha Male founder ran roughshod over the competition in 2013, showing a new found patience and killer instinct in wins over Ivan Menjivar, Scott Jorgensen, Iuri Alcantara and Michael McDonald.

The fight for heavyweight relevance

That heading may be misleading, because no matter who emerges victorious between division stalwarts Frank Mir and Alistair Overeem, both men will continue to be relevant in a thin UFC heavyweight division. So although neither man is likely to be cut after a loss, both have struggled to get their hands raised over the past couple of years.

Mir, a former UFC heavyweight champion, hasn't tasted victory in the Octagon since December 2011 when he brutally snapped Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira's arm with a Kimura. Since then, the 34-year-old Las Vegas native has lost three fights in a row, including devastating TKO losses to Junior Dos Santos and Josh Barnett.

Overeem, a former light-heavyweight who ballooned up to become a massive heavyweight through both legal (horse meat) and possibly illegal means, has never lived up to the hype that followed him from Strikeforce, losing his last two fights by KO after absolutely buzz-sawing Brock Lesnar with devastating body shots in his debut at UFC 141.

If either of these veterans want to find themselves back in the title picture in 2014, they're going to have to rattle off a few impressive victories first. So in a sense, this fight is a crossroads for both men. 

Fight Card