UFC 189 is one of the most anticipated, and definitely the most hyped, Pay-Per-View event of the year thus far. The hype was mainly centered around Conor McGregor challenging Jose Aldo for the featherweight championship. Of course, no UFC event is left untouched by the injury curse, and a couple of weeks before the event Aldo suffered a rib injury in training. After much hemming and hawing regarding the severity of his injury and whether he will be able to compete, it was finally announced that Jose’s rib is broken, and Chad Mendes will step up on short notice to face McGregor for an interim belt.
Despite the main event going down the crapper, this still remains of the most stacked cards in recent memory, and one of the few that will meet and even exceed the price of a UFC PPV. I usually wait until a day or two before the event to publish these blogs, as to account for last minute injuries and other unexpected changes in the line up; however with 4 UFC events in an 8-day span I’ll have to get started early, and keep it short. Let’s just hope the rest of this card remains intact till Saturday.
Main Card (Pay-Per-View)
Main Event: [#4 FW] Chad Mendes vs [#6 FW] Conor McGregor for the Interim UFC Featherweight Championship
Worth: $20
Why: Though I was looking forward to Aldo – McGregor, I am really not that upset about this fight falling through. The UFC hype machine fast-tracked Conor to a title shot without him having to face any of the other top contenders in the division, or an opponent with legitimate wrestling/grappling credentials. The match-up with Mendes addresses both of the above critiques, and will answer a few questions about whether McGregor is just hype or the real deal. Creating an interim title for a rib injury is silly but understandable: it allows UFC to keep McGregor in the main event, and it’s obvious that they want to put some kind of gold around the waist of one of their biggest draws at the moment – even if it’s a meaningless paper belt. Let’s just ignore the whole interim title thing, and consider it a #1 contender match: if Conor wins, the ‘title unification’ fight with Aldo will be even more anticipated than UFC 189. Conor McGregor is a very polarizing figure, and the odds have him as a slight favorite, so if you don’t buy into the hype and enjoy MMA betting, here’s your chance to put your money where your mouse is. As for me, I won’t make any predictions on this fight… not even touching it with Mauro Ranallo’s 25-centimeter pole.