When UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo was booked to fight Canadian wrecker Mark Hominick at UFC 129 on April 30 in Toronto, it was essentially a forgone conclusion the former would demolish the latter.
After all, the Brazilian is considered a member of the elite pound-for-pound club.
What happened on fight night was entirely less than expected. While Aldo mostly had his way with Hominick, "The Machine" battled through four rounds to absolutely manhandle Jose in the fifth.
How?
Turns out, the uncharacteristic sluggishness displayed by the champion was not the result of a bad weight cut or lack of motivation. The culprit was an undisclosed sickness that weakened him and required a strong dose of antibiotics.
And, as Nova Uniao leader Andre Pedemeiras points out to Sherdog.com, it was a nasty toe infection that put Aldo under the weather.
"He suffered a cut on his toe [on April 23] and it got infected with bacteria. He went through heavy medical treatment with antibiotics and anti-inflammatory pills from Sunday to Tuesday. He took the heavy dosage so that he wouldn't have to take more drugs closer to the fight. I can't say whether [the fact Aldo took antibiotics] affected his performance. I'm not a doctor. I prefer to give credit to Hominick's effort for taking the fight that deep, rather than saying if the medicine affected him or not."Sounds ... nasty.
As impressive as it was for Hominick to come storming back in the final frame to nearly finish the fight and steal the championship, it is, perhaps, equally impressive that Aldo was able to withstand five rounds of action in the state he was in.
In fact, directly following the sound of the horn, "Scarface" was heard lamenting the fact that he had not chosen to take more medicine, as it clearly affected his performance.
"Poppycock," his coach replied.
Either way, Aldo is still the 145-pound king and is on his way to Philadelphia for a likely UFC 133 showdown against yet another top contender in Chad Mendes.
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