It's a fight that has been hyped for months, but if the reports which first started to emerge last night are true, then Conor McGregor's fight against Jose Aldo is off.
A rib injury has put Aldo's participation on July 11th in doubt, but where does that leave McGregor should the match-up be definitively ruled out?
Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com joined Off The Ball tonight and discussed the options ahead should the expected come to pass.
"The card does not get cancelled. It's still a very solid card. Of course it loses a lot of its luster but there's still another title fight involving two great fighters - Rory MacDonald and Robbie Lawler," said Helwani.
"But these are the options that they're dealing with: A) Aldo fights through it, he remains on the card and everyone's happy. B) Aldo's removed from the fight and you keep Conor on the card because all these people have purchased tickets to see Conor. This is very much the Conor McGregor show. In my opinion, he's propped up Jose Aldo to a level that he's never been at. So you keep him on the card against someone else and take the risk of him potentially losing and not being able to do the Aldo fight at some time in the future. Or you just take Conor off the card completely, you postpone that fight as they've done many times before and have it in the Fall."
Helwani: 'This is the Conor McGregor show'. McGregor will have power in deciding next step should Aldo not be able to fight in 17 days.
— Off The Ball (@offtheball) June 24, 2015
Some of the fighters put forward as potential replacements for Aldo include Frankie Edgar and Chad Mendes and Helwani highlighted their wrestling pedigree, which McGregor has not been preparing for stylistically, and looked at some of the options that will be weighed up.
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