The UFC 176 card scheduled for August 2nd at the Staples Center in Los Angeles lost it’s main event yesterday when it was announced that Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo had sustained an injury and would not be available to fight Chad Mendes. This leaves the UFC without a main event, though an announcement is expected soon.
For Mendes, it is a blow to his plans for redemption. Aldo scored a KO via knee over Mendes in their first meeting back in January of 2012, and Mendes has gone 5-0 since, running over his beleaguered opposition. This left the UFC no choice but to grant him a re-match with Aldo. With the fight roughly a month away, any opponent is taking a match with Mendes on short notice. With the short notice and the absence of a clear cut ‘other’ top guy, the match is unlikely to be made into an interim bout, though the UFC would love to get a belt around Mendes’ waist, there are no real title worthy opponents in the weight class now.
As for Aldo, the latest reports describe the injury as ‘back and neck’ injuries, which sounds ominous. Though he should be entering his prime at 27 years old, he actually has a long history of injuries. It is unclear how long it will be before Aldo returns to the octagon, but it is assumed that they will wait for him a good bit before looking to replace him as a champion.
And as a main event for the PPV, the UFC is really not going to be able to match Mendes with anyone that is going to really be worthy of main event status on a PPV. Mendes can hope to stay on the card, and a match-up against someone like Tetsuya Kawajiri would be entertaining, but the UFC is more likely to sit him out and have him wait for Aldo.
How will the UFC fill the August 2nd date. At this point, the UFC has scheduled for July 26th a strong card for a UFC on FOX 12 event, main evented by Robbie Lawler verssus Matt Brown. Several matches from that card could be used to bolster the overall main card, however a true PPV main event is not clear at this point.
