In 2008, Jose Aldo introduced himself to the WEC promotion by stunning Alexandre Franca Nogueira. In early 2009, he cut short a spirited challenge from Rolando Perez by countering a jab to the body with a superbly timed knee. Six months later, well, he did what he did to Cub Swanson. In mid-2010, he made an absolute mess of Urijah Faber's thigh.

My point is this: through eight bouts under the WEC banner, Jose Aldo tore through competition with the kind of striking that has to excite any fan of mixed martial arts. Of course, injury forced Aldo to withdraw from his first scheduled bout as the newly crowned UFC featherweight champion following the top promotion's incorporation of the WEC.

With a challenge from featherweight contender Mark Hominick on the horizion, it seems that Aldo has taken to the Netherlands to further refine his striking. Per two-time K-1 MAX champion Andy Souwer's Twitter:

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Souwer, who also finished second in the K-1 MAX tournament twice and has won the Shootboxing S-Cup three different times, has been on somewhat of a slide recently. He has lost two of his last three, being upset by late replacement Toby Imada in the semifinals of the 2010 S-Cup and dropping a decision to Abraham Roqueni earlier this month. Even so, Souwer remains one of the top middleweight kickboxers in the world today and his upcoming bout against L'houcine Ouzgni under the It's Showtime banner is definitely one of the bigger bouts that we will see in the near future.

While mixed martial artists looking to train with top fighters from the world of kickboxing is nothing new, it is certainly interesting to see how these connections play out. It seems that Aldo will be in the Netherlands until mid-March, leaving him roughly a month and a half before his bout against Mark Hominick.