There has been a lot of discussion over whether UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo actually has a broken rib that forced him to back out of his main event match with Conor McGregor.
The UFC says that Aldo simply suffered a bone bruise, but it seems that at least one doctor has confirmed that there is in fact a broken rib.
Here are some quotes from the doctor from Bleacher Report:
“The MRI image I saw shows a fracture,” Chao told Bleacher Report on Thursday morning. He told Aldo’s rep that the person in question needed to get it taken care of. When the rep asked if it was an injury that could heal quickly, the doctor laughed and said no.
The images tweeted by Chao are also blurry. That, Chao noted, could be a product of several things.
“They are blurry because you have to breathe. MRI’s are a 3-5 minute sequence, and it isn’t easy to stay still,” he said. The poor image quality is also due to the way they were taken: with a phone camera held up to a computer monitor.
Chao said that out of the over 100 images contained in the MRI file, he picked out the two that showed the clearest picture of the break. They are essentially the smoking gun that proves Aldo’s injury was what he originally said it was.
“It is clear to me that there’s a fracture on that image,” Chao said.
The UFC has not responded to a request for information regarding the doctors they used to verify Aldo’s injury.
I was asked to review Jose Aldo rib films. Yes, he has definite fracture. Here are actual images. White line is break pic.twitter.com/gBYemmqm5V
— David J. Chao, MD (@ProFootballDoc) July 2, 2015
Here is actual image that shows @josealdojunior left T10 rib fracture. Very difficult to fight MMA #UFC189 pic.twitter.com/uDS5FWe7NN
— David J. Chao, MD (@ProFootballDoc) July 2, 2015
I’ve never broken a rib before so I am not going to pretend to know the kind of pain that Aldo is experiencing, but it is interesting that his camp is going so far to prove the severity of his injury.
With the UFC saying the injury was nothing more than a bone bruise, I am curious to see how they respond to this.