Despite pending unification bout, White, McGregor won't talk about Aldo right now

Conor McGregor

LAS VEGAS – By all indications, the future is set for the UFC featherweight division. New interim champ Conor McGregor will face undisputed champ Jose Aldo in a unification bout.

Yet McGregor, and especially UFC President Dana White, don’t want to start that promotional cycle just yet. They have different reasons, but for now, they’re simply basking in the success of Saturday’s UFC 189, which broke the promotion’s live gate record and could do the same on pay—per-view.

“Tonight I’m going to toast good business, and it was damn good business,” said champ McGregor (18-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC), who stopped Chad Mendes (17-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) in the second round of the pay-per-view headliner to claim the interim title.

For White, who was over the moon about the fight card’s performance on every level, not talking about Aldo (25-1 MMA, 7-0 UFC) means silencing the media, whom he blames for stirring controversy in the wake of the champ’s withdrawal due to a rib injury.

After reports of the injury surfaced, there were conflicting reports about the severity of Aldo’s condition. Even after that was supposedly confirmed, and Aldo was announced by the UFC to have a bruised rib, there were more reports that he had suffered a broken rib.

White, though, was unequivocal about what had befallen the champ. He said again that Aldo’s rib was bruised.

“Everything that was reported out there was completely bullsh-t is what it is,” he said. “And I’m not talking about Jose Aldo any more, because the despicable, I don’t even know what to call them, that work in this business on some of these websites. It’s one of these things where basically they lie about what I said, turn it around, and then by the time it gets translated into Portuguese, it’s even worse. So it makes me sick and I’m not going to say anything about Jose Aldo.

“I’ve never disrespected the guy in my life. I like Jose Aldo very much, his wife, his family. And I’m done. Not talking about Jose Aldo. When Jose Aldo versus Conor McGregor is ready, we’ll let you know. Other than that, don’t even ask me about his injury or any of that sh-t, because there’s a lot of people who just f-cking lie, and I’m done with it.”

For McGregor, the idea of talking about Aldo shifted the focus from what was undoubtedly the best night of his career. Although he addressed the champ in the cage afterward, accusing him of running from the fight and promising a showdown, he declined to elaborate on his feelings about the champ and a potential fight.

“But I’m going to put Jose at a distant memory right now because I don’t think he deserves to be spoken about here,” McGregor said. “He didn’t show up. This was the event that we built. He should have made that walk. And respect to Chad for making that walk and showing up. But in my opinion, Jose’s done. If it comes back around, we’ll discuss it then. But right now, this is my night, this is Ireland’s night, this is Team Straight Blast night, my friends and family, this is our night.”

When the unification match is set, however, expect the promotional cycle to start in earnest. McGregor and White rarely shy away from the microphone when dollars are to be made.

For complete coverage of UFC 189, check out the UFC Events section of the site.