Jose Aldo Hospitalized, Will Still Fight At UFC 179
UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo has had a rocky road along the way to his rematch with No. 1 contender Chad Mendes. The two were supposed to throw down at August 2’s UFC 176 from Los Angeles, but a neck injury to the longtime titleholder postponed the bout until the main event of UFC 179, which will go down on October 25, 2014, from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Today, news comes that Aldo has experienced another setback. Globo reported that Aldo was hospitalized with a kidney stone, an ailment that has plagued him since his UFC 163 win over Chan Sung Jung. Aldo’s coach Dede Pederneiras described the situation:
“Aldo has had renal calculi since he was 16 years old. After his fight against Zombie, he expelled a stone. Last week it happened again. He started to get a little pain, he was hospitalized, he got saline solution and expelled the stone.”
Despite the serious sounding details of the situation, Aldo’s upcoming bout with Mendes is not expected to be affected. The six-time defending champion was reportedly back to training the next day. It’s clear that kidney stones may be something he’ll have to deal with from now on, but they don’t appear to be slowing down his training for the pivotal rematch.
Aldo’s Team Nova Uniao has bad blood with Mendes’ Team Alpha Male, as UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw famously shocked former champion (and Nova Uniao team member) Renan Barao by knocking him out at UFC 173 in May. Barao previously beat Team Alpha Male leader Urijah Faber twice, and Aldo beat him once.
Aldo also beat Mendes in the main event of UFC 142, knocking him out with a spectacular spinning knee before rushing into the crowd to celebrate with the frenzied Brazilian faithful.
Mendes has been on a tear since that day, rolling through every opponent that he has faced. Meanwhile, Aldo has drawn a ton of criticism for seemingly taking it easy and coasting to decision victories.
He most likely won’t be able to do that against the improved Mendes at UFC 179. With Aldo losing a bit of momentum, will the result be different the second time around?
