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On Saturday, UFC 189 finally gets going. The top fight will pit Conor McGregor against Chad Mendes, but there are also four other fights on the main card.
Will Mendes be able to put up a good showing despite being called in on short notice? Will McGregor back up his trash talk with a dominating fight? Who is favored in the fight?
Here's everything you need to know before UFC 189.
When
10 p.m. ET Saturday.
Where
The MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
How to watch
Pay-per-view or stream it on UFC TV. UFC TV will cost $59.99 while PPV looks to be around $50. You can also find a bar that will be showing it.
The card
Here's the main card, with McGregor and Mendes as the headliners:
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Conor McGregor vs. Chad Mendes (title fight)
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Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald (title fight)
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Dennis Bermudez vs. Jeremy Stephens
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Gunnar Nelson vs. Brandon Thatch
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Thomas Almeida vs. Brad Pickett
Odds (via Odds Shark and Bovada):
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Conor McGregor: -190, Chad Mendes: +155
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Robbie Lawler: +140, Rory MacDonald: -170
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Dennis Bermudez: -210, Jeremy Stephens: +170
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Gunnar Nelson: +150, Brandon Thatch: -185
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Thomas Almeida: -850 Brad Pickett: +525
A salvaged fight
Just a couple weeks back, UFC 189 appeared to be in jeopardy when Jose Aldo withdrew from the headline fight after he suffered an injury while training for the bout (more on that later). Luckily, Conor McGregor found an opponent. On Saturday, it'll be McGregor against Mendes, who accepted an offer to fight on short notice.
Injury or weight?
Here's where the controversy sets in. Aldo claims he broke his rib, which forced him to pull out of the fight, but UFC president Dana White is telling a different story. Here's what White told MMAFighting about Aldo's withdrawal:
"So what happened was, when the pictures went out onto the internet, right, and you saw this rib down here, that was an old injury," the UFC president said. "That was an old injury that was calcified white. The real injury was the bruised rib and cartilage. He had a bruised rib and cartilage. And the big problem for Aldo in taking the fight, wasn't the fight. It was making weight."
"He had to cut something like 24 pounds, and if he couldn't physically do it the way that he does it, he was afraid that he couldn't make weight," White continued. "That was really the issue. But he did not have a broken rib. It was a bruise. Every x-ray he sent out was of an old injury. What you saw right there on his body was an old injury, not a new injury."
Regardless of the reason why, Aldo won't be fighting on Saturday.
A feisty lead up
So, it looks like the fight began well before Saturday night.
They are now arguing. "You should have stayed home, kid. You shouldn't have answered that phone. I'm going to butcher you," McGregor said.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) July 1, 2015
McGregor's soaring confidence
McGregor is just a bit confident heading into this fight, as White told Yahoo Sports that McGregor tried to bet White $3 million he would knock out Mendes in just the second round.
But will McGregor's performance match his bravado? This is how the two fighters stack up.
We're talking #UFC189 McGregor vs Mendes on @ESPN_MMALIVE. Tough call! Here's the video: http://t.co/pcY6yzVE6o pic.twitter.com/k99aRpURkk
— Fightnomics Reed (@Fightnomics) July 6, 2015
It should be a close one.