Twitter Mailbag: Say a prayer for Jose Aldo's ribs

Jose Aldo and Ricardo Lamas

Would it surprise you to learn that there’s more than one question about the UFC 189 bout between Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor in this week’s Twitter Mailbag? Probably not. But don’t worry, while we look at that situation from all angles, we also find time to discuss Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 70 main event, plus more fallout from Bellator’s big weekend.

Got a question of your own? Tweet it to @BenFowlkesMMA.

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Mad, bro? Not necessarily. But sad, bro? Probably, yeah.

One of the reasons we’re so hyped about Aldo vs. McGregor is because it promises answers to some big questions. Questions like, who’s the best featherweight in the world? Also, can this McGregor guy possibly be as good as he says he is, or is he, in fact, completely delusional? These are compelling questions. Many of us were willing, even eager, to pay 60 bucks to see them answered in violent fashion.

But now we have to consider the possibility that we won’t get an answer we can trust. If Aldo loses in some fashion that seems like a direct, or even indirect, consequence of the rib injury, we’ll all wonder. We’ll probably also feel kind of gross about the whole thing. You know, except for the Irish fans, who will probably still feel elated.

What makes this one even tougher is that it feels like Aldo is being pressured into it. First we hear his rib is fractured, and then the UFC tells us no, it’s just a bruise (and a “cartilage injury,” which is magnificently vague). The UFC also tells us that it has a backup plan for an interim featherweight title fight, should Aldo prove unable to compete. The message to Aldo there is pretty clear – either go through with the fight, or we create a new belt. Rescheduling the fight isn’t an option.

I can sympathize with the UFC’s plight here. It put a lot of money, time and effort into promoting this fight. McGregor no doubt has a ton of fans who’ve already booked travel from Ireland just to see it. You want to keep him on this card, and you want it to be in a fight that seems meaningful. Due to circumstances beyond the UFC’s control, however, it won’t be quite as simple an equation as originally planned.

There is that, assuming we can ignore the health risk of sending the only 145-pound champ the UFC has ever had out there to get kicked in his already damaged ribs.

A win for Aldo, under these circumstances, instantly becomes one of the great tough-guy tales of MMA lore.

A loss, and yeah, we’ll probably want to run it back when he’s healthy.

A lot will depend on how the fight actually plays out, though. If his rib is clearly a factor, and if he seems significantly diminished as a result, it might start to feel more evil and less genius by the time it’s all over.

It’s certainly an idea born of necessity. What I wonder is, what does Chad Mendes get out of it if the fight goes ahead as scheduled? What, he shows up, cuts weight, gets himself in the right mental state to fight, and then they just tell him thanks, but your services are no longer required?

That seems like a bad deal for him. Seems like there ought to be some financial compensation for being a backup, and maybe (hopefully) there is. After all, you know how the UFC loves to compare itself to the NFL, when the comparison is a favorable one? Yeah, well, NFL backups get paid. Much better than most UFC fighters who actually compete, in fact.

I suspect you wrote this question before Aldo’s injury was downgraded and the dreaded f-word removed, but in some ways cartilage stuff can be even worse. I say that from experience, as someone who’s suffered two cartilage issues, one in my sternum and one in my ribs. Both were pretty painful, and took weeks to heal.

Of course, we also have to take into account the fact that 1) I am a wuss, and Aldo probably isn’t, and, 2) My recovery consisted of drinking on the couch and complaining whereas he has a team of people helping him get better quickly.

The worst thing about this injury is that everyone, including McGregor, knows about it now. Aldo might as well wear a sign into the cage that says, “Here’s where I’m vulnerable,” with an arrow pointing at his ribs. Not only does Aldo have to worry about protecting them from an avid kicker with a great understanding of distance and timing, he also has to worry about not protecting them at the expense of his face, or his own offense.

It’s a lot to carry with you into a title fight. It’s also the kind of thing that can mess up what’s left of your training camp, and possibly your weight cut.

First of all, the fix accusations are dumb, for the reasons I’ve outlined here. Second, if it had been fixed, yes, we should care, even if the Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson vs. Ken Shamrock bout itself was a mostly meaningless sideshow.

I have no problem with MMA adopting some elements of the carnival from time to time, but the one element it absolutely cannot mimic are those crooked games. We don’t always need to have faith that the fighters are good in order to enjoy ourselves, but we do need to believe that they’re trying their best. The instant you lose that, you become pro wrestling with lazier storylines and worse production values.

I won’t argue with you there. Frankie Edgar clearly has the stronger claim to a featherweight title shot right now. The fact that Mendes gets the role of understudy instead, when Edgar was perfectly willing to take the job, is hopefully a sign that the UFC has bigger plans for “The Answer.”

Think about it from the UFC’s perspective: If Aldo pulls out and Mendes fights McGregor for the interim strap and loses, you haven’t knocked off your top contender for the sake of a Plan B bout. You still have Edgar waiting to challenge the winner, if Aldo can’t return in a timely fashion. You still have three top guys at featherweight, with only Mendes, who’s already fallen short twice, out of the picture. You’re already going to lose some oomph once this fight is no longer Aldo vs. McGregor for the featherweight title.

Why waste Edgar on a situation like that? Why not save him for when you can really put him to good use?

Sure, let’s go with that generous interpretation. You’re right that we didn’t see the same level of squeamishness when Joanna Jedrzejczyk pummeled Jessica Penne into a bloody pulp as we did when Jessica Andrade beat up on Rosi Sexton back in 2013, closer to the beginning of the UFC’s women’s MMA adventure.

That could be because of differences in audience size, or perhaps differences in how fans felt about the fighters doing/receiving the beating. Or, maybe you’re right, maybe we’re getting better about this stuff. Maybe we’ve finally seen enough women’s MMA in the UFC that male fans can stomach the sight of a female fighter’s blood a little better. I’m not sure that makes them feminists, exactly, but at least it’s a start.

The backlog at middleweight right now is such that I don’t think a win over Lyoto Machida, who’s already coming off a loss to Luke Rockhold, will land Yoel Romero in a title fight. At least, not without some sudden injuries to other key players.

What a Romero victory would do, however, is keep him in the hunt, and put a little more distance between him and that controversial win over Tim Kennedy.

For Machida, the stakes are even higher, in a weird way. He didn’t look good against Rockhold, and here he faces another dude with the potential to hurt him in a bad, bad way. I’d feel better about his chances if he weren’t taking this fight just two months after getting roughed up in the last one. A second consecutive loss for the 37-year-old Machida, and the future starts to look pretty grim.

We’ve got a few good gyms in Montana. The SBG gym in Kalispell is probably the best in the state, and you can get high-level instruction there. But does that mean the UFC will come here? I doubt it.

For one, we don’t have a state athletic commission. For another, the population of the entire state hovers around 1 million, scattered over 147,000 square miles. It makes more sense to visit a neighboring state and let the hardcore fans from the 406 make the drive. Plus, we’re only a two-hour flight from Vegas, and I’ve seen plenty of hungover people wearing MMA T-shirts on that Sunday morning flight home after a big event.

Ben Fowlkes is MMAjunkie and USA TODAY’s MMA columnist. Follow him on Twitter at @BenFowlkesMMA. Twitter Mailbag appears every Thursday on MMAjunkie.