Sparring partner explains how much pain Jose Aldo is in since rib injury

Whether Jose Aldo will fight on UFC 189 or not is still up in the air.

Jonas Bilharinho, aka the Conor McGregor mimicker, broke down exactly how Jose Aldo injured his rib before the biggest fight of his career. Bilharinho explained that Alcides Nunes, a 5-0 lightweight from Nova Uniao, was doing soft sparring with the champion when he slipped and caught Aldo awkwardly with a spinning back kick. However, Bilharinho believes that Aldo will still fight regardless of the injury.

"It wasn't a hard kick. I will be with him on Tuesday to see what he is capable in training or not, but my opinion right now is that he is going to fight."

He also recounted meeting Aldo last week after the injury reports had surfaced. Bilharinho detailed how much pain Aldo was in on that occasion, but he feels that the champion is improving.

"He was walking slow to don't feel the pain on ribs. It's disturbing, man. You cannot punch, you cannot much, you cannot breath because the pain is still fresh, but it's probably better. If the pain got worse, he probably don't fight, but I think the fight's going to happen. I don't think it will get worse." "There are some kinds of pain that we can hold during fights and there are some kinds of pain that we cannot hold. I hope it's one of the ones he cannot hold, but we will test him on Tuesday."

It looks like we'll just have to wait and see whether it is Jose Aldo or Chad Mendes who will be facing the Notorious at UFC 189. As MMA Hour host Ariel Helwani remarked, Tuesday will be a big day.