Jose Aldo Injury: Updates on UFC Star's Rib and Return
UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo was taken to the hospital on June 23 after a "kick to his midsection" left the Brazilian with a rib injury. The UFC called the injury a bone bruise on June 24, though MMAFighting.com later reported it was a fracture. The injury forced Aldo to withdraw from UFC 189 vs. Conor McGregor.
Continue for updates.
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Dana White Speaks on Aldo Injury
Tuesday, June 30
MMAFighting.com provided from White that Aldo's broken rib MRI showed an old injury, reiterating Aldo does not have a broken rib. White also noted, per MMAFighting.com, three different doctors confirmed the bruised rib diagnosis.
No. 1 featherweight contender Chad Mendes has replaced Aldo at UFC 189 to face McGregor, according to ESPN's SportsCenter on June 30.
On June 29, Jonas Bilharinho, Aldo's training partner, spoke about his belief that Aldo would fight at UFC 189 despite his rib injury, via Guilherme Cruz of MMAFighting.com.
"I think he will probably fight. And I hope so. I will be with him on Tuesday to see what he’s capable of doing during training or not, but my opinion right now is that he’s going to fight. I’m going to be optimistic about it because Aldo wants this fight so bad. I think this fight will probably happen.
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Per Cruz, Aldo's coach Andre Pederneiras spoke on Aldo's passion to remain in the fight on June 24: "He cried. He wants this fight bad, everybody invested a lot in this. I was with him the whole afternoon. He’s heartbroken. He wants to fight anyway. Now we have to wait for the exam results. Aldo is in deep pain."
