Jose Aldo vs. Conor McGregor fight news: UFC CEO buys Brazilian champion protective vest to avoid injury
UFC Chief Executive Officer Lorenzo Fertitta is taking all measures to make sure that his featherweight champion is injury-free and able to compete at UFC 194.
145-pound king José Aldo will be facing interim champion Conor McGregor to unify both featherweight titles. Originally scheduled to face each other in July at UFC 189, Aldo was forced out of the bout due to an injury. The two will now face each other on December 12th, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
It was a rib injury that put Aldo to the sidelines two weeks before fight night, which made two-time title contender Chad Mendes step in as last-minute replacement. But the score needed to be settled between both men, who had been in unpleasant encounters during their ten-city press tour in April.
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With a month before fight night, both camps are on a smooth-sailing path, so far. But Fertitta is not taking any chances this time around, and has decided to take some preventive measures. In a report by Bloody Elbow, the UFC executive bought Aldo a protective vest to use in training.
Aldo's wife Vivianne Oliveira confirmed the news in a separate report by Brazilian outlet Combate.
"Lorenzo gave two shirts for him with protection in the ribs," Oliveira said. "He is training with that thing for people to protect themselves."
This is not the first time the Nova Uniao fighter has pulled out of a title fight in the UFC. In a report by BJPenn.com prior to his announcement of withdrawal from UFC 189, Aldo has pulled out of fights five times in his UFC stint alone.
The first one happened in January 2011, when he was slated to fight Josh Grispi. After pulling out, the fight was rescheduled to April of the same year, at UFC 129, where he instead faced Mark Hominick.
The second happened in 2012, at UFC 149. Aldo was scheduled to fight Erik Koch, but the Brazilian pull out. Koch did withdraw from the fight, as well, which had the UFC replace him with Frankie Edgar.
Edgar and Aldo were supposedly fighting at UFC 153 in October of the same year, but after the latter pulled out, the bout was rescheduled for UFC 156 in February 2013.
His most recent one prior to UFC 189 was during his rematch with Chad Mendes at UFC 176 in 2014. The fight was originally scheduled for August of that year, but on an injury on Aldo forced it to be moved to October.
