TJ Dillashaw: ‘It Was Impossible For Jose Aldo To Fight’
UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw has plenty of unfinished business with Renan Barao, and it will all come to a head at UFC On FOX 16 this coming Saturday (July 25th, 2015). ‘The Viper’ dispatched of Barao at UFC 177, furthering the beef between the Team Alpha Male and Nova Uniao camps. Chad Mendes had two fights against Andre Pederneiras‘ featherweight boss Jose Aldo, who himself has been the subject of much controversy and negative press lately. You know it’s bad when Dana White joins the slating too. It all stemmed from a rib injury that forced ‘Scarface’ from his UFC 189 date with Conor McGregor.
‘The Notorious’ was crowned interim boss, albeit rather unnecessarily, after he finished late replacement Chad Mendes at the Las Vegas event this past July 11th, pretty much saving the UFC’s hard earned dollars of promoting the original title fight. Aldo blasted the UFC for their treatment of him since the injury, and even though there’s ongoing feuds between their camps, ‘The Viper’ says he feels bad for the stricken featherweight boss, as per MMAJunkie:
“It was definitely impossible to fight through the injury. Mine was a fracture, so they wouldn’t even let me fight because it was too dangerous. Even with separated ribs, bruised ribs or broken ribs, I don’t think you realize until you have that injury how much it affects you.”
“You can’t even sneeze, cough, laugh, and even watching a funny movie is not a great idea. Getting out of bed hurts. If you can’t even get out of bed, how the heck are you supposed to go and fight another man, especially for a world title?”
Dillashaw never received such negative press when he fractured his rib in training before UFC 186, further delaying the rematch with his Brazilian counterpart ‘Baron. Perhaps Aldo being far more frequent with his injuries and not really making the UFC, or arguably himself, that much trash-talk money is fueling the promotion’s negative press. TJ continued:
“I feel bad for him; that was going to be Aldo’s biggest payday to date,” Dillashaw said. “Defending your belt, that’s putting a lot on the line and having something that’s going to affect you that much isn’t worth it; it’s not like you got a bruised hand or something small like that, this controls you entire body.”
“It’s not so bad now that McGregor won that fight against Mendes, but if McGregor lost that fight to Mendes it would have been a major missed opportunity for Aldo,” Dillashaw said. “I felt bad for him. I thought Mendes was going to go out there and beat McGregor so he would have missed out on a lot of money. The injury was legit. If he has a hurt rib, that sucks.”
Well that was not what we expected to hear from the bantamweight boss, and it’s perhaps hat needs to happen. With pretty much everyone else enjoying the show as Aldo gets squashed by the proverbial bus, at least ‘Killashaw’ can be a little more realistic.
Do you agree with Dillashaw’s opinion on the whole situation with Aldo & McGregor?
