Despite getting injured and pulling out of the main-event of UFC 189, Featherweight Champ Jose Aldo hasn’t kept silent about the situation, or his originally scheduled opponent, “The Notorious” Conor McGregor. Per Guilherme Cruz and MMA Fighting, Aldo released a statement regarding the situation:
I couldn’t fight without being 100 percent physically and with a rib injury that could get worse if I got hit in the ribs. Many people told me to fight anyway because of the money I could make, but I wouldn’t sell myself for any money, no matter how much. I fight for love and I do it for my country. Money comes in second place, it’s like a shadow: when you try catching it, you can’t, but when you move forward, it follows you. Money ends some day, but legacy and things you do becomes part of the history, and that’s what I value the most.
I’m the UFC champion since April 2011, defended my belt seven times in four years, and will do it for the eighth time in 2015, an average of twice a year. And I’m not even mentioning WEC, a Zuffa-owned company, like the UFC, where I became the champion in 2009 and put my belt on the line twice in less than a year. That why I can’t agree with UFC’s decision to have an interim champion in my division citing the five opportunities that I couldn’t defend my belt.
Aldo goes on to say that if he fought the five times he had to bow out due to injury, that would be 12 title defenses in four years, but that’s not entirely accurate because Aldo ended up fighting within seven months at the latest of each scheduled contest. Most of the time, the title defense was rescheduled two or three months down the line, like his latest against Chad Mendes, originally slated for Aug. 2, 2014 at UFC 176, when Jose’s spine injury pushed it back to Oct. 25, 2014 at UFC 179. It’s highly unlikely that he would have fought at both of those PPV events.
However, Aldo did turn his attention to McGregor and unleashed with both barrels:
As of my opponent, who told me to step up and fight like a man, I can’t say anything about a man that imitates a TV series character (Travis Fimmel, from Vikings). That’s really who he wanted to be, because he’s probably ashamed of being who he really is, so he imitates his lines, his style and this actor’s tattoos. He’s an artist, but not from martial arts, but cheap comedy. It’s disrespectful with the actor, and with real athletes. He should look for a stage and not an Octagon. The Octagon is my kingdom and there’s place for only one king, which is me. If he wants to participate, he can be the joker he already is.
If he beats Chad Mendes, the only thing he will have is a toy belt to show his drunk friends in his country’s bars, because that’s what an interim belt represents to me: a toy. I am the champion.
Holy cow, that’s a pretty solid verbal knockout blow. Also, if there was any question of Aldo “being scared” to fight McGregor, as Conor has implied, Jose also released his x-rays, showing the full extent of his injury:
I’m not a doctor, but I’m pretty sure that all of the rib parts should be connected, and as the green arrow helpfully shows, one part, uh, isn’t. I don’t think that’s a deep bruise, either, but an actual, factual break.
McGregor will take on Mendes for the Interim Featherweight title at UFC 189 on July 11. Aldo’s recovery time table is uncertain at this point, but he should face the Interim Champion to unify the belts when he returns to competition.
