World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight contender Jose Aldo will lock horns with four-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Fredson Paixao at WEC 38 “Varner vs. Cerrone” on Jan. 25 at the San Diego Sports Arena in San Diego, Calif. The WEC announced the bout, along with several others, earlier this week.

Aldo (12-1) will enter the match on a five-fight winning streak, having dispatched Jonathan Brookins and the highly regarded Alexandre Franca Nogueira by technical knockout in his first two appearances inside the WEC cage. The talented 22-year-old Brazilian, himself a decorated grappler, has delivered nine of his 12 career wins by knockout, TKO or submission. Aldo’s lone defeat came at the hands of accomplished Pride Fighting Championships veteran Luciano Azevedo in 2005.

Paixao, meanwhile, will carry some momentum into his WEC debut. The 29-year-old has won back-to-back fights, including a majority decision against Masakazu Imanari inside the Deep promotion in August 2006. However, Paixao has not competed since he submitted the well-traveled Thomas Denny with a first-round armbar at a Gracie Fighting Championships show 20 months ago. He has never been finished in 10 career MMA bouts, losing only to WEC veterans Marcos Galvao and Yoshiro Maeda.

The Aldo-Paixao showdown was not the only match added to the WEC 38 menu.

One-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Danillo Villefort will square off with undefeated World Championship Fighting veteran Mike Campbell in a welterweight bout pairing two WEC rookies.

Based out of American Top Team, Villefort (8-2) has rattled off four consecutive victories -- all of them by submission or TKO, three of them inside one round. The 25-year-old Brazilian last appeared in May, when he submitted Mike Massenzio with a kneebar at an International Fight League event.

Campbell (4-0), meanwhile, has posted three straight knockout wins. A former power lifter who honed his MMA skills inside the WCF and Reality Fighting promotions, he has not competed since he stopped Rob Moskowitz on strikes in just 85 seconds at WCF 5 last summer.

In another welterweight affair, Japanese standout Hiromitsu Miura will take on unbeaten newcomer Edgar Garcia, who has finished five of his first six foes in the opening round.

A decorated Judo player and Sambo fighter, Miura (9-5) gave WEC welterweight kingpin Carlos Condit all he could handle in the WEC 35 main event back in August. The 27-year-old ultimately succumbed to strikes and fatigue in the fourth round, but he opened some eyes in what was one of the more competitive WEC title bouts last year. Miura has never been submitted in 14 career fights.

Having cut his teeth inside the Total Combat and Desert Rage promotions, Garcia last competed in August when he finished Waylon Kennell with first-round strikes at TC 30. Garcia graduated from the same high school as Efrain Escudero, the lightweight winner on season eight of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series.

A lightweight championship bout pairing 155-pound titleholder Jamie Varner against the undefeated Donald Cerrone will headline WEC 38, along with a rematch between former WEC featherweight king Urijah Faber and one-time UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver.

WEC 38 “Varner vs. Cerrone”
Sunday, Jan. 25
San Diego Sports Arena
San Diego, Calif.

WEC Lightweight Championship
Jamie Varner vs. Donald Cerrone


Urijah Faber vs. Jens Pulver
Danillo Villefort vs. Mike Campbell
Jose Aldo vs. Fredson Paixao
Anthony Njokuani vs. Ed Ratcliff
Hiromitsu Miura vs. Edgar Garcia
Dominic Cruz vs. Ian McCall
Frank Gomez vs. Scott Jorgensen
Blas Avena vs. Jesse Lennox
Charlie Valencia vs. Seth Dikun