Jose Aldo out of UFC 189, Conor McGregor meets Chad Mendes for interim featherweight title

UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo has been forced to pull out of his title defense against Conor McGregor at next week’s UFC 189 and McGregor will now meet Chad Mendes for the interim title.

Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

UFC President Dana White announced that Aldo was out of the fight and Mendes was in on ESPN tonight.

UFC 189 will come from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas next Saturday night and the main card on pay-per-view will also feature Robbie Lawler defending the welterweight title against Rory MacDonald.

The current UFC 189: McGregor vs. Mendes fight card is below.

Main Card: (PPV – 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT)
Conor McGregor (17-2) vs. Chad Mendes
Robbie Lawler (27-8) vs. Rory MacDonald (18-2)
Dennis Bermudez (14-4) vs. Jeremy Stephens (23-11)
Gunnar Nelson (13-1-1) vs. Brandon Thatch (11-2)
Brad Pickett (24-10) vs. Thomas Almeida (19-0)

Preliminary Card: (Fox Sports 1 – 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT)
Matt Brown (19-13) vs. Tim Means (24-6-1)
John Howard (27-11) vs. Cathal Pendred (17-2-1)
Mike Swick (15-5) vs. Alex Garcia (12-2)
Cody Garbrandt (6-0) vs. Henry Briones (16-4-1)

Preliminary Card: (Fight Pass – 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT)
Neil Seery (15-10) vs. Louis Smolka (8-1)
Cody Pfister (11-4-1) vs. Yosdenis Cedeno (10-4)