So much for that 100 percent confidence.
Merely hours ago, UFC President Dana White’s answer was “yes” when MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani asked if he was 100 percent confident Jose Aldo would still defend his featherweight title against Conor McGregor at UFC 189.
Aldo had reportedly injured his ribs last week during a sparring session when he was kicked by a teammate. Initial reports from Combate, per MMAFighting.com, revealed that Aldo had fractured his ribs, putting the bout against McGregor in serious doubt.
However, the UFC released an official statement a day later, claiming Aldo’s ribs weren’t broken. According to the statement, Aldo’s official diagnosis—following a review of the CT scans—was a bone bruise and cartilage injury.
A contingency plan was mentioned to already be in place if Aldo was unable to compete on July 11. Chad Mendes was selected as the featherweight to take his place against McGregor in an interim title fight. Despite having a “Plan B,” the UFC seemed confident Aldo would still step up and take the fight.
When speaking with Helwani on Tuesday at the unveiling of the new Reebok uniforms, White was completely confident fight fans would get the bout they wanted to see:
Jose Aldo wants this fight. The injury that he has is the same injury [Donald] ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone just fought with. Cowboy Cerrone just fought with this injury. He got hit to the body, and he won the fight. Dan Henderson fought with this injury, and a lot of other fighters have fought with the same thing that Jose has right now.
Even UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta told Helwani he was “very confident” Aldo would still be fighting McGregor.
But the injury was too much for the 28-year-old featherweight champ to overcome. The UFC announced on Tuesday that Aldo had officially pulled out of his UFC 189 title fight with McGregor. The Irish challenger will now take on Mendes for the interim featherweight title.
Conor McGregor vs Chad Mendes for the interim featherweight title on July 11 LIVE on PPV!!! pic.twitter.com/egV7zvUoO9
— Dana White (@danawhite) July 1, 2015
MMA fighters and analysts wasted little time in posting their thoughts of the new UFC 189 main event on Twitter (Warning: NSFW Language).
Not all rib injuries are the same. Cannot compare Aldo’s to anyone else’s. We saw how tough he was vs Mendes, can’t call that into question
— Brian Stann (@BrianStann) July 1, 2015
Terrible business decision for UFC, if Mendes beats Up McGregor they lose so much money.
— Ben Askren (@Benaskren) July 1, 2015
Maybe they pay Mendes to lose ;)
— Ben Askren (@Benaskren) July 1, 2015
This isn't a bad thing for Aldo. Heal up. McGregor win = super fight/big $ later. Mendes win = beat Mendes 2x, making him look even BETTER.
— Joe Ellenberger (@JoeEllenberger) July 1, 2015
Get em money!
— Scott jorgensen (@Scottjorgensen) July 1, 2015
Let's do this!
— Coach Kavanagh (@John_Kavanagh) July 1, 2015
Maybe Aldo saw the new UFC Reebok fight kit and said screw this.
— Marc Raimondi (@marc_raimondi) July 1, 2015
I'm glad Aldo didn't take the fight. Big paycheck but he couldn't even get out of bad the past few days.
— Guilherme Cruz (@guicruzzz) July 1, 2015
And with that, more than a month-and-a-half worth of work goes down the drain. Unbelievable. God. Damnit. I'm going to go cry in the corner.
— Shaheen Al-Shatti (@shaunalshatti) July 1, 2015
Aldo’s lack of ability to stay healthy and the miles on his body were why I thought McGregor would beat him.
— Jeremy Botter (@jeremybotter) July 1, 2015
Jose Aldo out of UFC 189. Honestly, I'd rather see the plan B fight of McGregor vs. Mendes then see an injured man pressured into fighting.
— Ben Fowlkes (@benfowlkesMMA) July 1, 2015
Jordy McElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He also is the MMA writer for FanRag Sports and co-founder of The MMA Bros.
