So much has been said about Jose Aldo‘s looming rib injury leading up to his featherweight title defense opposite Conor McGregor at UFC 189 on July 11.
How serious is the injury? Should his team have made it public?
Will he fight? If so, at what capacity?
At the end of the day, it is rare that a fighter is completely healthy leading up to a fight. Most disclose their physical ailments after the fact, but they exist nonetheless.
Heck, there is a strong possibility that McGregor himself is entering the biggest fight of his career with some sort of training-camp damage.
The issue at hand is whether or not The Notorious will target Aldo’s injury come fight night, which is something that many people would disagree with doing since it could very well throw off McGregor‘s overall game plan.
But considering the magnitude of this fight and the royalties that will follow should he dethrone a champion who hasn’t lost since 2005, how can the Irish sensation not focus on his biggest advantage?
In a recent interview with MMA Junkie’s John Morgan, McGregor discussed his upcoming bout at UFC 189 and a potential switch of opponents.
“I’m going to go for the chin; I want to knock him out,” McGregor said. “He doesn’t need to worry about his ribs, and I’m not going to go out and purposely target an area. If he shows up and fights, which he should do, we’ll fight as scheduled. I’m not going to start diving at things. I’m just going to fight my fight. It’s the chin I am hunting.”
If Aldo can not compete at UFC 189, then it will be Chad Mendes who will step in and fight McGregor for the interim belt.
With a completely different fight style, exclusively his wrestling skills, some may think that Mendes is actually a tougher matchup for the Irishman.
“I’m just preparing to get better,” said McGregor. “That’s it. I show up at the gym looking to become a better martial artist. I’ll whip both of them on the same night if need be. So whoever shows up across the octagon will get beat.”
McGregor went on to add that Aldo must fight in his current shape considering the injury occurred due to specific training tendencies, which includes the Brazilian bringing in fighters to mimic his opponent’s movement.
While The Notorious stated that the UFC had presented an option for him to fight at 155 pounds instead of featherweight, his mind is set on either Aldo or Mendes.
“I’ll be there July 10 at 145 pounds, and on July 11, I will have a gold belt wrapped around my waist,” said McGregor. “So everything else means nothing to me.”
Stick with B/R as the countdown to UFC 189 wages on.
For more UFC news and coverage, Follow @DHiergesell
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com