Even though two champions were booked to compete on this card at one point, there is no denying that 145-pound contender Conor McGregor was to be the star of the show all along. He has become one of the bigger stars in MMA and has the ability to bring in big bucks for the promotion any time he competes.
Still, the UFC should have postponed the matchup between McGregor and Jose Aldo rather than keeping the Irishman on the card to meet Chad Mendes in an interim championship bout.
A clash between McGregor and Mendes is intriguing and has the potential to be a highly entertaining main event. However, there is also a possibility that putting this fight together could ruin what would arguably be the biggest featherweight bout in MMA history.
The disappointment that would result from the latter far outweighs the excitement that could come from the former scenario.
In the event that Mendes beats McGregor at UFC 189, it would set up a third meeting between the Team Alpha Male standout and Aldo. While there would be some interest in the trilogy, Aldo has already beaten Mendes on two occasions. So the amount of anticipation for that matchup would be nothing compared to the hype that surrounded the previously scheduled confrontation between Aldo and McGregor.
Terrible business decision for UFC, if Mendes beats Up McGregor they lose so much money.
— Ben Askren (@Benaskren) July 1, 2015
This isn't McGregor being paired with Dennis Siver to put him over either. With his solid wrestling, Mendes has a good chance to expose McGregor and knock the Irish contender down a peg. In fact, Mendes opened as a slight favorite over McGregor, according to Odds Shark.
Mendes has taken down Aldo, Clay Guida, Nik Lentz and others. He completely neutralized Cub Swanson with his wrestling. There are many who believe Mendes is the clear No. 2 featherweight in the world, and his No. 1 position among 145-pound contenders in the official UFC rankings proves that.
Considering that Siver and Diego Brandao have been the only UFC opponents to attempt takedowns on him, McGregor is in for a big test this weekend.
Despite calls from critics that McGregor needed to face an elite wrestler before he truly deserved a title shot, the UFC had successfully built its cash cow into a top contender without having him tested on the ground. Now, it's risking it all by pairing him with arguably the best wrestler at 145 pounds.
Of course, injuries and bout cancellations happen in MMA. No matter how much money it can bring in, the UFC can't have its top contenders waiting around forever for the champion to heal.
That doesn't so much apply to this situation, though.
I was asked to review Jose Aldo rib films. Yes, he has definite fracture. Here are actual images. White line is break pic.twitter.com/gBYemmqm5V
— David J. Chao, MD (@ProFootballDoc) July 2, 2015
It isn't like Aldo has torn his ACL and will be out of commission for the long haul. The Brazilian broke a rib and will presumably be back in relatively short order. He was even considering competing through the injury at one point before pulling out of his title fight with McGregor.
A championship bout between Aldo and McGregor was one of those huge fights that doesn't come around very often. It would be a shame for it to be ruined and replaced by a third meeting between Aldo and Mendes, who has already had two cracks at the featherweight champion.
Rather than creating a possibility that McGregor never faces Aldo, the UFC should have postponed that title matchup and had Mendes meet Frankie Edgar in a title-shot eliminator.
