You have to hand it to Conor McGregor. The man is as smooth as silk, as slick as snot on a doorknob and as cool as polar bear feet.
He’s taking care of business as usual.
Most contenders would be hitting the panic button after hearing news of an injury that could put the biggest fight of their careers on ice. Not to mention, this news is coming a little over two weeks out from the actual fight.
Fox Sports’ Damon Martin, per Globo in Brazil, reported that UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo suffered a rib injury during a sparring session on Tuesday. The injury is reportedly a fractured rib, which puts his blockbuster championship showdown with McGregor at UFC 189 in jeopardy.
While everyone else runs around like a chicken with its heads cut off, McGregor tweeted a picture of himself still in full training mode, busting out front splits like he’s on the set of a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie.
Injury news of this magnitude is devastating to the fight community, seeing as Aldo vs. McGregor was billed as the biggest featherweight fight in MMA history. The UFC reportedly spent millions of dollars in promotional efforts for the event, which received a world tour and one of the most ambitious theatrical hype trailers ever for an MMA fight.
When speaking with MMAFighting.com in May, UFC President Dana White said he expected the event to do over a million pay-per-view buys.
“Over a million PPV buys and we’ll probably break even. That’s how much money we’re spending. We’re spending lot of money. …It’s the most expensive commercial we’ve ever shot, but without a doubt the most bad ass commercial we’ve ever done.”
According to MMAFighting’s Guilherme Cruz, Aldo’s injury could possibly require three-to-four weeks of treatment.
He has yet to officially pull out of the fight.
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.
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