More bad Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) news.
UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo has suffered an injury and will be unable to defend his 145-pound title against Chad Mendes at UFC 176, which takes place at Staples Center in Los Angeles, Calif., on Aug. 2, 2014.
No official statement was released from the promotion yet, but Ariel Helwani shared the scoop on the latest edition of "UFC Tonight" earlier this evening. Therefore, no replacement has been named to replace "Scarface" and it's unclear if UFC will even attempt to insert a new opponent opposite "Money."
Aldo and Mendes met once before at UFC 142, where the Brazilian knocked out the Team Alpha Male-trained standout with just one second to spare in the first round. Since that time, Aldo has defended his belt three times and flirted with a possible "super" fight against Lightweight kingpin Anthony Pettis.
Mendes, meanwhile, put together a solid five-fight win streak, the first four of which were all (technical) knockout victories, to earn a second championship opportunity. He's clearly the No. 1 title contender who has history with the champion, which means he and UFC might wait to determine the severity of Aldo's injury before making different plans.
Like a fight against Cub Swanson.
UFC 176 features a Middleweight co-main event between Ronaldo Souza and Gegard Mousasi. That would be a tough sell for a pay-per-view (PPV) main event; therefore, UFC might look to poach from another card to make it more attractive.
Stay tuned.