Brian Stann: Knowing Jose Aldo is injured ahead of UFC 189 is 'a very big deal'
With less than two weeks to go until UFC 189, featherweight champion Jose Aldo is still expected to face top contender Conor McGregor despite an injury that has been diagnosed as anything from a bone bruise to a fractured rib.
Aldo's doctors along with physicians from the Nevada State Athletic Commission may ultimately decide whether the Brazilian is fit enough to defend his title on July 11 in Las Vegas.
Former UFC fighter and current FOX analyst Brian Stann has never personally dealt with a rib injury, but he's seen them happen to teammates and only Aldo will know for sure just how much pain he's in and how much he could potentially handle come fight night.
"I personally have never had a rib injury. I have trained with several guys who did have rib injuries. Some have bounced back fast, some have not, some have really lingered due to the severity. There's different levels of injury as well, with a bone bruise, we don't know how much pain Jose Aldo is in but he does," Stann told FOX Sports recently.
"Guarding an injury opens up other areas. When someone starts hitting that injury, it gets into your head and it really can force a pattern and then once you adjust to that pattern, it can be a very big deal."
Stann believes a rib injury can be severely detrimental to anyone in a fight, but it may be even worse while facing a striker like McGregor, who could absolutely target the midsection to do maximum damage.
While McGregor insists that he's going for Aldo's chin and not his ribs, pre-fight hype and banter won't have any impact once the two fighters step in the cage together and one of them is hampered by a rather obvious injury that could ultimately lead to a change in champions.
Stann says that no matter how much Aldo might try to downplay the injury, now that it's public knowledge everything else is fair game.
"I think it's a big deal," Stann said. "When you're talking about a five-round fight with a guy who strikes as well to the body, hits hard, a big 145'er, who's also a smart chess player inside the Octagon, I think it's a big deal."
Maybe the biggest issue Aldo is dealing with now is the fact that McGregor already knows a weakness the champion has ahead of the fight.
Fighters compete with injuries all the time so Aldo certainly wouldn't be the first to go into a championship bout at well less than 100-percent, but the difference this time is his opponent knows exactly what's wrong and how to expose it.
Aldo's coach Andre Pederneiras insists that no one at his camp, Nova Uniao, was responsible for the news of Aldo's injury leaking to the media and his belief is that someone at the hospital is to blame for releasing the news after seeing the champion come in for treatment.
Stann isn't sure who's to blame, but this isn't the first time news of this sort has leaked out.
He insists that for a fight as big as UFC 189, everybody from coaches to fighters to training partners needs to close ranks and keep information like this a secret, especially if it's an injury that Aldo could fight through and no one would be the wiser until after show is already over.
"I think this is a lesson to all other camps and coaches out there that when things like this happen, you need to shut your mouth," Stann said. "I don't mean it in any way, shape or form to say anything bad about Nova Uniao, I love those guys. They may be the best camp in Brazil if not one of the best in the world.
"They're phenomenal, but somebody there could have really hurt them. I've seen it happen before."