UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo pulled out of his upcoming title defense against Conor McGregor earlier this week due to suffering a fractured rib recently in training.
With Aldo being unable to compete at UFC 189 next week against McGregor, former title challenger Chad Mendes will step in to face McGregor for the interim UFC featherweight title.
McGregor has fired shots at Aldo since the injury became public and on Thursday morning, Aldo fired back at McGregor. He explained how medical records prove he has a fractured rib, not a bruise rib. Also, he wrote that his decision to pull from the fight was in respect to the UFC and the fans of the sport.
For three months, on a daily basis, I have trained. I invested my time and money, bringing training partners from both Brazil and other countries, to carry out the best camp of my life and be ready to defend, for the eighth time, my belt on July 11. Unfortunately, I suffered a fractured rib during a workout, proven by official medical records. In spite of doing everything possible to fight, I had to withdraw, and that saddened me very much. Only I, my family, coaches and teammates know how much I tried my best to represent Brazil again.
The decision was made in respect to UFC and the fans who think I’m the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. I could not fight without being 100 percent, and with a fracture in the rib that could be worse if were to suffer a blow in that spot. Many people told me to fight anyway, on account of the money that could I would make. But I wouldn’t sell myself short for any amount. I fight because I love it, and I love my country. The money, to me, comes second. It is like a shadow: When you try to pick it up, you can’t, but when you walk forward, it follows you. The money ends at some point, but the legacy of my achievements will go down in history – and that is what is most valuable.
I have been a UFC champion since April 2011. I defended my belt seven times in four years, and I will do the eighth defense even in 2015 – an average of two title fights per year. That is not counting the WEC, where I was a champion in 2009. I cannot agree with the decision of the UFC in having an interim featherweight champion, justifying it with the five times that I could not defend the belt as scheduled.
If these fights had taken place, I would have done, in the UFC alone, 12 title fights in four years – an average of three fights per year, an average that no champion had. Rarely, some champions made three defenses in a year. So this cannot be the main reason to be given an interim title. But as the UFC is a private company of which I am hired, I cannot complain about their decisions, but I can’t say that I agree.
With regard to my opponent, who said I should take the fight like a man, I cannot say anything about a guy who mimics a TV character (the actor Travis Fimmel of the series “Vikings”). This is who he really wanted to be because he is ashamed of being who he really is, so much that mimics the character’s lines, actions and tattoos. He is an artist, but not a martial artist. It’s cheap comedy. He should look for a stage and not an octagon. The octagon is my kingdom and there there is only room for a king, who I am. If he wants to participate, he will have to be like the fool that he already is.
If he beats Chad Mendes, the only thing that he will have will be a toy belt to show his drunk friends in the bars of Ireland, because that is what this interim title represents for me: a toy. I am the champion.