So, around Tuesday afternoon rumors started popping up that the long reigning Featherweight champion, Jose Aldo, sustained a fight re-scheduling/canceling injury .
As the time passed by the rumors turned to facts as it was confirmed that Jose did in fact get injured by his training partner just 2 weeks out of the biggest fight in his career. Bad luck turned to worse when more details started surfacing. Jose's sparring partner landed a clumsy spinning back kick to the mid section and cracked the champions' ribs. The reports claim Aldo leaving the gym in pain but still willing to compete. Here's where thinks get a bit complicated. UFC 189 has been all about Aldo vs McGregor(despite Robbie Lawler defending his belt against Rory MacDonald on the same card). The promotional tour for this fight started months ago with the Irishman taunting the champion all over the world, stealing his belt and getting inside his head. It's literally the most expensive promotion a single UFC fight has ever had. This fight was aimed to be UFC's Manny Pacquiao/Floyd Mayweather and Aldo just put everything in jeopardy just 2 weeks before the fight of his life. Now this puts Jose and the UFC in a tough spot, but still with a few options left to explore.
Option a) If Aldo's x-ray results come back showing only slight injury that can heal by fight time, the fight is still on. How this will be handled inside the octagon is different story. This is the best case scenario.
Option b) X-ray results show Aldo has a broken/cracked rib and will have to withdraw from the fight forcing UFC to either reschedule the fight or give Conor a new opponent. Among many fighters throwing their name to willingly step up on a short notice, Chad Mendes and Frankie Edgar are the most mentioned names.
Option A
UPDATE:
Looks like the best case scenario is happening and is even better than expected. Jose Aldo's x-ray results came through and Aldo's ribs are fine, he just bruised them(although a bruised rib is no joke. It hurts like a bitch, makes training very difficult and it's a nightmare to heal) and the fight is still on like donkey kong! However, a lesson has been learned and nothing is being left to chance. In case of another freak accident, Chad Mendes gets an interim title shot against the Irishman. Meaning, come July 11th Conor McGregor will be getting his damn Featherweight championship belt even if it means he has to buy one on ebay. Speaking of the Irishman, he took no time in taking a jab at the champion after news came through that the fight is still on.
It turned out he just had a little period pain.
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) June 25, 2015
Like him or hate him McGregor knows how to bring in the viewers and spike up the numbers. His screaming at Aldo's face back in January was played, replayed, used, reused and abused into oblivion for promotional and marketing purposes. He is a fighter who knows how to bring attention and his first fight as a a PPV headliner is expected to bring in a million ppv buys. In light of these interesting tidbits and news of the champions potential withdrawal from the fight, Chael Sonnen dropped some thoughts regarding the numbers Aldo could end up making. Despite being a dominant champion, Aldo has never had a high enough profile fight that would generate big enough numbers for him to get a piece of the PPV pie. Now with McGregor in the picture, he suddenly joins the PPV percentage club(yes, I just made that up) and could earn as much as 3,5 mil $. Which could come in handy once the complicated mess that is the Reebok&UFC sponsorship program sets in and he starts losing money, as per his words.
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| Conor McGregor screaming at a laughing Jose Aldo after his win over Dennis Siver in January, source |
Option B
It is no secret that Dana White has a thing for the Irishman and his antics, White was quoted saying that if Conor is to win against Jose Aldo, his first title defense is going to be in Croke Park. Therefore, it would be in the company's interest if Conor would turn champion at UFC 189. So pitting him against a dominant wrestler(with knockout power) who can push the pace and bring the fight to him could very well mess up those dreams of a stadium title defense return to the land of the Leprechauns.
NOT-Jose Aldo vs Conor McGregor
Ok. Well with all that being said and done what will ultimately happen with this main event? Well, a rib injury is nothing to mess around with, no matter how tough you are. Since the cat's out of the bag masking the injury and just toughing it out is not an option. If his trainers won't stop him, the athletic commission just might. Conor McGregor on the other hand, took to twitter to post a somewhat cryptic message that hints at him willing to accept a replacement fight for the July 11th fight card. As I mentioned above the most thrown around names for replacing Jose Aldo( if needed) are Frankie Edgar and Chad Mendes. Frankie posted an instagram photo of him saying he's waiting by the phone and Chad joined in on the cryptic social media posting fun and tweeted that he just landed in Las Vegas. What does all this mean? Either Frankie and Chad decided to screw around with everyone at the worst time possible or they are preparing for "the call" from Dana.
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| Conor doing his best Jean Claude Van Damme impression, source |
Here's some interesting trivia for the road. If indeed Jose Aldo pulls out of this fight. It will the 6th time he has done so.
That's all from me. Like I said, I got a couple of things in the works, so be on alert for more content. Until we meet again, I'm Armbar the batman dressed(not really, but sounds cool right?) blogger and I leave you now to the vastness of the interwebz.
p.s. don't be a douche, like my facebook page .
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