Jose Aldo

By FCF Staff

Although some fans and observers believe Jose Aldo should have fought Conor McGregor at UFC 189, despite of his rib injury, it sounds like Daniel Cormier isn’t one of them.

On Tuesday, the UFC announced that Aldo has withdrawn from the July 11th bout, after injuring his ribs last week while sparring. There have been conflicting reports as to the extent of the injury, however, Aldo and his camp are reporting his ribs are fractured.

In the latest edition of “UFC Tonight”, commentator and light-heavyweight champ Daniel Cormier was asked to weigh-in on the situation, and here is some of what “DC” had to say (quote via FOX Sports press release):

“I have had rib situations in my wrestling career. You can’t walk, you can’t breathe, you can’t cough so for him to have fought it would’ve been very difficult for Jose Aldo to make weight too so now you’re dealing with something different. There were a lot of things going against him in this situation and we don’t know if he would’ve even been able to fight.  Knowing that McGregor knew where the injury was, if [McGregor] would’ve targeted that, Aldo would’ve been at a big disadvantage.”

Aldo is the only featherweight champion the WEC and UFC has ever had, but the Brazilian star has been forced to the sidelines several times in recent years, due to injury. To that point, commentator Kenny Florian relayed:

“This is a guy who has stayed undefeated for close to 10 years and it’s a difficult thing to deal with because now you don’t become reliable for the company, for the fans and it gets everyone nervous now the next time you fight…it’s been very disappointing.”

As a result of Aldo’s injury, Chad Mendes will now challenge McGregor for an interim title at the upcoming event.

UFC 189 will be hosted by the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.