World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight champion Mike Thomas Brown will defend his crown against Brazilian wunderkind Jose Aldo in the WEC 44 “Brown vs. Aldo” main event on Nov. 18 at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. The WEC made the bout official on Tuesday through its Twitter account.

Brown will carry a 10-fight winning streak into the match. The 34-year-old American Top Team product has emerged as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the sport since debuting with the WEC in June 2008, as he has twice defeated promotional poster boy Urijah Faber. Brown has never been knocked out in 26 career bouts and holds other notable victories against Jeff Curran and ATT teammate Yves Edwards.

No man’s stock has risen faster than Aldo’s. Based at the revered Nova Uniao camp, the 23-year-old featherweight has posted five consecutive finishes in the WEC. Aldo last appeared at WEC 41 in June, when he felled the highly regarded Cub Swanson in a mere eight seconds with a beautiful flying knee and follow-up punches. A decorated Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, he has yet to unleash his ground game in the UFC.

Other matches booked for WEC 44 include a featherweight showdown pairing former title challenger and UFC veteran Leonard Garcia with “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 5 runner-up Manny Gamburyan and a pivotal lightweight confrontation pitting former champion “Razor” Rob McCullough against undefeated upstart Anthony Pettis.