THE SAGA OVER Jose Aldo’s rib injury isn’t over yet. Far from it.
That’s if Chael Sonnen is to be believed — which he’s often not, but the former Ultimate Fighting Championship star does sound pretty serious here.
On the latest episode of his ‘You’re Welcome’ podcast, Sonnen says that he was threatened with legal action over the weekend by a representative of UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo.
Sonnen also claims that the same threat was made to the UFC, relating to allegations that Aldo misleadingly released two different sets of x-rays after withdrawing from his title defence against Ireland’s Conor McGregor, which was scheduled to take place in Las Vegas on 11 July.
The threat to Sonnen of a lawsuit for defamation was made, he explains, following comments he made while appearing as a guest on Michael Landsberg’s TV show on the TSN network in Canada.
Recalling the phone-call he apparently received from Aldo’s lawyer, Sonnen said: “So Landsberg asks me about Aldo-McGregor and do I think it’ll happen and blah, blah, blah… and I answer the question. Somewhere in my answer I said that Aldo pulling out was very fugazi because he had two separate sets of x-rays.
“He had the x-rays that were sent from his doctor to the UFC’s doctors, which showed a bruised rib and he was cleared to fight. And he had a separate set of x-rays which he personally released online which showed… what appeared to be a broken rib.
“Well, they’re saying that that’s what was inflammatory… that he did not have two sets of x-rays… that the x-ray that he put online is the same x-ray he sent to the UFC, and how this story of two x-rays came out, or a story of a bruised rib versus a broken rib came out, he doesn’t know, it’s not true and that I’m perpetuating it.
“They said we won’t sue you if you stop talking about it. I said, well hold on, I’ll go a step further than that… not only will I quit talking about it, if I said it and it’s not true I’ll give him [Jose Aldo] an apology. I don’t want to go around saying the guy put out two x-rays if that’s not true, but I’m a little confused here.
“I parroted this information, that’s true. I heard it and I repeated it. So where did this story come from? I said, I heard this at a UFC press conference. And the attorney said ‘yeah, well pay attention in the next few days, you won’t hear the UFC saying it anymore, because before we called to threaten you with a lawsuit, we called and threatened them with a lawsuit’.
“I have to assume he’s telling the truth. I have to assume that there aren’t two sets of x-rays. Jose Aldo is threatening to sue me and claims that he threatened to sue the UFC. Now that’s a pretty big bluff. That’s a big enough bluff that I think he’s telling the truth.”
Sonnen added that he has invited Aldo to join him as a guest on the podcast in order to ‘set the record straight’, but the offer has yet to be accepted.
