Jose Aldo is a prime example that sometimes even the best fighters in the world don’t get to sit at the cool kid’s table.
Unlike his championship peers, Aldo has never had a filter when it comes to speaking his mind about the UFC. While hosting a Q&A session in Brazil, per MMAFighting.com, the featherweight champ said UFC athletes were treated unfairly. He claimed athletes basically pay to fight.
Taking things up a notch, he also recently called the six-year, $70 million Reebok deal “s–t,” when speaking with Combate (h/t BloodyElbow.com). Let’s just say the two sides haven’t necessarily seen eye to eye on things.
But it wasn’t until Aldo pulled out of his scheduled title fight with Conor McGregor at UFC 189 that things really started to get out of hand. It was initially reported by Combate, per MMAFighting.com, that Aldo had fractured his ribs after being kicked in the midsection during a sparring session.
However, the UFC released a statement a day later claiming Aldo’s ribs weren’t broken. According to the statement, another doctor had reviewed Aldo’s CT scan and diagnosed the injury as a bone bruise and cartilage damage.
Even though the rib injury wouldn’t keep Aldo out long, the UFC hatched together an alternative scenario if Aldo was unable to compete against McGregor. Top featherweight contender Chad Mendes would step in as a late replacement for Aldo in an interim title bout.
When appearing on ESPN’s SportsCenter, UFC President Dana White noted that Aldo had pulled out of five title fights before announcing Mendes vs. McGregor for the interim featherweight title.
It was a slap in the face to the the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
So Aldo sat on the sidelines and watched White wrap UFC gold around McGregor’s waist on Saturday night at UFC 189. McGregor defeated Mendes in the second round by TKO in what White deemed the biggest event in UFC history at the post-fight press conference. The eagerness to put UFC gold in the hands of the promotion’s biggest star since Georges St-Pierre left Aldo hanging on an island.
Even though he released the actual X-rays of his injury, Aldo was looked at as a man making excuses not to fight McGregor. It also didn’t help that White claimed the images were from an old injury during a Q&A at the UFC Fan Expo, per MMAFighting.com.
“That was an old injury that was calcified white,” said White. “The real injury was the bruised rib and cartilage.”
MMA legend Wanderlei Silva released a video on Monday, which implored fans to take a stand against the UFC for mistreating fighters. He questioned whether the UFC paid a doctor to say Aldo’s injury was a bone bruise in a desperate attempt to get him to fight:
“It’s obvious that Aldo would never lie about an injury. So for me it’s absurd already that he had to prove it. But he did prove it and that still wasn’t enough. Then the event picks up some local doctor to say that the rib was not broken. But the x-ray doesn’t lie. So what’s going on, did they pay a doctor here to say that it wasn’t broken?”
Silva then took aim at White, calling him a liar:
“The big liar in this story is the promoter of this event. He’s the only one who has anything to gain by lying. He’s the business man who only cares about his bank account. He’s never been punched in the face, he doesn’t know what it’s like to train with a broken rib.
He doesn’t know what it’s to get stitches in the face, how it feels to break a nose and to have your blood spilled. He gets his money without being touched for it. How can someone who has never been slapped in the face talk about the greatest fighter of all times?”
It was unfortunate that Aldo once again found himself injured and having to pull out of a UFC title fight. This withdrawal in particular stung, considering all of the resources the promotion invested into the event.
There is no question that changes have to be made to Aldo’s fight preparation to increase his odds of staying healthy. However, Silva does make a lot of sense for the first time in a long time.
Leading up to UFC 189, White told ESPN’s Ryan Russillo that Aldo “probably would have made close to $4 million” to fight McGregor. It’s hard to believe that any fighter, let alone the greatest featherweight in MMA history, would purposely leave that kind of money on the table. No fight is worth competing with a serious injury.
It had to be tough for Aldo hearing White say things like “it’s his decision” and “I’m not too happy about it” when talking about the injury on SportsCenter. It’s never in the plans for anyone to get injured. But injuries do happen, and you have to figure out a way to deal with them.
The UFC had every right to be upset, but when a guy says he’s hurt, especially an MMA legend like Aldo, you need to take his word for it and move on.
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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