Aldo is Out, Mendes is In for UFC 189
Dana White appeared on ESPN's Sportscenter on Tuesday night to announce that UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo is out of UFC 189 on July 11 due to his rib injury. Conor McGregor will now take on Chad Mendes for the interim UFC Featherweight Championship in the main event of UFC 189 on July 11th.
Clearly this is a huge blow to the proposed biggest card of the year, set for next Saturday night in Vegas. Thousands of fans from all over the world will be traveling to Las Vegas for International Fight Week, and the previously scheduled Aldo vs McGregor grudge match. Now the question is, how much of a financial hit will the card take. In many ways this can not be a good thing for the UFC. Not only have they lost out on a mega fight that has been promoted heavier than any fight in recent history, but the fact is, Mendes is a great fighter, and could easily defeat Conner, ruining the fight with Aldo, once he's healthy. One may have thought the the UFC would give McGregor an easier fight to showcase him, and save him for the Aldo match in the Fall. But with so many people travelling to Vegas, and the fight card, being so heavily hyped, it appears the UFC felt that they needed to give the fans a championship worthy fight. And these two hate each other, so that helps. More on this over the next week. In the mean time, get to know Chad Mendes. He is in no way a bum. His fights with Aldo were great too. |