LAS VEGAS — Dana White is done talking about Jose Aldo and his rib injury.
The conflicting reports about whether or not Aldo’s ribs are broken or just bruised sent the UFC president into a rant Saturday night following UFC 189. White was very upset, because he felt media misconstrued his words about Aldo in a fan Q&A on Friday at the UFC Fan Expo.
White and the UFC have maintained that three doctors diagnosed Aldo with a bruised rib and cartilage damage. Aldo’s doctors in Brazil and an independent physician in the United States, though, have said Aldo’s ribs are broken.
Aldo’s team released MRI images to the media that seem to show a fracture. White said Friday that he was told by doctors that the spot that appears to be broken is actually the calcification of an old injury. Aldo’s doctor Rickson Moraes disagreed with White’s information, telling MMAFighting.com that the rib was broken.
“Everything that was reported out there is complete bullshit is what it is,” White said. “And I’m not talking about Jose Aldo anymore, because the despicable, I don’t even know what to call them that work in this business that own some of these websites, it’s one of these things where basically they lie about what I said. Not what I said and then turn it around and then by the time it gets translated into Portuguese it’s even worse. It makes me sick and I’m not say anything about Jose Aldo.”
Aldo was supposed to face Conor McGregor in the UFC 189 main event Saturday night, but pulled out two weeks ago due to the rib injury. Chad Mendes stepped in and McGregor defeated him by TKO in the second round at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Aldo’s team has not been happy with the UFC continuing to say Aldo didn’t have a broken rib and did not appreciate White’s words Friday. White said that Aldo withdrew because he was worried that he would not be able to make weight, which is an extremely valid concern for a rib injury.
“He had to cut something like 24 pounds and if he couldn’t physically do it the way that he does it, he was afraid that he couldn’t make weight,” White said. “That was really the issue. But he did not have a broken rib. It was a bruise. Every x-ray he sent out was of an old injury. What you saw right there on his body was an old injury, not a new injury.”
Aldo’s manager Ana Claudia Guedes tweeted Saturday that White was “trying to throw” Aldo “under the bus.”
@MMAFighting LOL. Way to keep trying to throw your longest reigning champ under the bus!
— Ana Claudia Guedes (@GuedesGroup) July 11, 2015
White vehemently disagrees with that take.
“I’ve never disrespected the guy in my life,” he said Saturday. “I like Jose Aldo very much, his wife, his family. And I’m done. Not talking about Jose Aldo. When Jose Aldo vs. Conor McGregor is ready, we’ll let you know. Other than that, don’t even ask me about him — his injury or any of that sh*t, because there’s a lot of people who just f*cking lie and I’m done with it.”