UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo meets with his medical team Wednesday to determine whether he can fight Conor McGregor at UFC 189 on July 11, after he suffered a rib injury while sparring on Tuesday morning.
BJJEE.com is reporting that Aldo had a very large camp, and had just flown in Dutch welterweight shootboxer Andy Souwer, presumably to mimic McGregor’s style. Souer is a two-time K-1 World MAX champion, and a four-time Shootboxing world tournament champion.
A source within the camp reached out to BJJEE and described what happened.
There are like 30 sparring partners for Aldo there, all great guys, except for like 3 or 4 who basically are low level strikers.
Aldo injured his rib while sparring with undefeated Brazilian lightweight Alcides Nunes, who landed a kick to Jose’s midsection.
Dutch Kickboxing champ Andy Souwer was brought in from Holland to train with Aldo but barely had any chance to help out before the injury occurred.
It happened the round after Andy Souwer sparred with Aldo, against Nunes. Aldo was trying to put Nunes off balance in a clinching situation, turning/sweeping him and after that it looked like he didn’t want to go on anymore, he looked tired and it went on for a minute until the round ended, and he went to sit on one of the bags and they got water and stuff and he said something was wrong with him.
His coach, Andre Pederneiras, does not want the fight to continue but as far as I know they’re still debating.
Guilherme Cruz spoke directly with Nunes, who described how a slip while attempting a spinning back kick caused the injury.
“I threw a kick but slipped with all the sweat on the mat, and ended up hitting his rib,” said Nunes to MMAFighting.com. “I was mimicking McGregor’s unorthodox style, things he does in the fight. I’m also left-handed, my style is similar to his, so that’s why they asked me to be part of his camp, but I ended up slipping and causing this injury.”
“He finished the round, and then decided to stop. I’m sure he would continue to train if he could. He’s a warrior and was really well prepared for this fight.”
“I’m still sad about all this. As a fan and an athlete, I know this is devastating. I’m really sad. Aldo was in shape and prepared for this fight.”
