Jose Aldo vs. Conor McGregor set for Dec. 12; Ronda Rousey not on card

The rescheduled fight between longtime UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo Jr. and interim champ Conor McGregor has a new date and a familiar location.

According to a Yahoo Sports report, McGregor and Aldo will meet on Dec. 12 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, the site for their originally planned fight on July 11.

Additionally, the Kevin Iole report also stated that Ronda Rousey will not defend her title on the Dec. 12 card.

In recent weeks, there had been much speculation of a UFC supercard on Dec. 5 at AT & T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys. Such a card would have featured both Aldo vs. McGregor and Rousey against Miesha Tate.

However, according to White, the MGM “moved heaven and earth” in order to land the McGregor fight. The MGM has an Andrea Bocelli concert scheduled for Dec. 5, facilitating the move to Dec. 12.

Aldo (26-1), who has been world featherweight champ since winning the what was then the WEC belt in Nov. 2009, had to pull out of the fight with McGregor due to a rib injury suffered in training a couple weeks before the fight. This led to both White and McGregor questioning the severity of the injury. Aldo, who has pulled out of several planned fight dates in his reign due to injury, made X-rays of the injury public.

When Aldo’s fallout was made official, McGregor was paired with Chad Mendes for the interim featherweight title. Mendes controlled the action for the better part of two rounds, but made a mistake late in the second. McGregor (19-2) capitalized and won the fight via TKO in the round’s closing seconds. That gave the Irish superstar 14 straight wins and put him at 6-0 in the UFC.

It remains to be seen on which card Rousey-Tate will land.

“That fight isn’t going to be on the [Aldo-McGregor] card, for sure,” White told Yahoo. “If we were going to go to Dallas Cowboys Stadium, that’s another story, but the MGM really wanted the fight and they made a huge effort for it and they got it. And it works out better for us to be in Las Vegas.”

The rescheduled fight between longtime UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo Jr. and interim champ Conor McGregor has a new date and a familiar location.

According to a Yahoo Sports report, McGregor and Aldo will meet on Dec. 12 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, the site for their originally planned fight on July 11.

Additionally, the Kevin Iole report also stated that Ronda Rousey will not defend her title on the Dec. 12 card.

In recent weeks, there had been much speculation of a UFC supercard on Dec. 5 at AT & T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys. Such a card would have featured both Aldo vs. McGregor and Rousey against Miesha Tate.

However, according to White, the MGM “moved heaven and earth” in order to land the McGregor fight. The MGM has an Andrea Bocelli concert scheduled for Dec. 5, facilitating the move to Dec. 12.

Aldo (26-1), who has been world featherweight champ since winning the what was then the WEC belt in Nov. 2009, had to pull out of the fight with McGregor due to a rib injury suffered in training a couple weeks before the fight. This led to both White and McGregor questioning the severity of the injury. Aldo, who has pulled out of several planned fight dates in his reign due to injury, made X-rays of the injury public.

When Aldo’s fallout was made official, McGregor was paired with Chad Mendes for the interim featherweight title. Mendes controlled the action for the better part of two rounds, but made a mistake late in the second. McGregor (19-2) capitalized and won the fight via TKO in the round’s closing seconds. That gave the Irish superstar 14 straight wins and put him at 6-0 in the UFC.

It remains to be seen on which card Rousey-Tate will land.

“That fight isn’t going to be on the [Aldo-McGregor] card, for sure,” White told Yahoo. “If we were going to go to Dallas Cowboys Stadium, that’s another story, but the MGM really wanted the fight and they made a huge effort for it and they got it. And it works out better for us to be in Las Vegas.”