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Jose Aldo pulls out of UFC 189; Conor McGregor now faces Chad Mendes

Rib injury cancels UFC’s marquee matchup

UFC Fighter Conor McGregor Open Workout

L.E. Baskow

UFC featherweight contender Conor McGregor readies for another work out at the Ultimate Fighter Gym on Thursday, May 21, 2015.

The UFC officially lost what it had hailed as the biggest fight of the year Tuesday evening.

Featherweight champion Jose Aldo will be unable to fight in his scheduled title defense against Conor McGregor, UFC President Dana White announced on ESPN’s SportsCenter. McGregor will now face Chad Mendes, whose only losses are a pair of defeats to Aldo, for the interim championship in the main event of UFC 189 on July 11 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

The winner is expected to challenge Aldo before the end of the year after the top-ranked pound-for-pound fighter recovers from a rib injury. News broke last week that Aldo suffered a fractured rib while training at home Rio de Janeiro, but the UFC reported it was only severe bruising that would allow the fight to go on.

McGregor was a small favorite to dethrone an injured Aldo, according to the betting odds, but moves to a slight underdog against Mendes. On the surface, it’s a tough stylistic matchup for the rising star from Dublin, Ireland who’s knocked out four of five UFC opponents.

McGregor has never faced a wrestler the caliber of Mendes, who trains out of Urjah Faber’s Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, Calif. and wrestled collegiately at Cal Poly.

The UFC flew Mendes to Las Vegas to prepare for the fight last week in a contingency plan for Aldo being unable to compete. The promotion hoped it wouldn’t come to that after spending a record amount of marketing on Aldo vs. McGregor and predicting more than 1 million pay-per-view buys, but was left with no other choice.

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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