The doubts had been there ever since Jose Aldo picked up a rib injury two weeks ago.
But today all doubts were confirmed as the Brazilian UFC fighter pulled out of his much-anticipated bout with Conor McGregor, leaving the Dubliner to now go head-to-head with Chad Mendes in Las Vegas next weekend.
Injuries are part and parcel of the sport and Aldo has had his fair share of physical issues force him out of fights.
We'll be discussing today's news with MMAFighting.com's Ariel Helwani on Off The Ball.
Aldo v Grispi
As the UFC's inaugural Featherweight champion, Aldo's first title defence was set to be against American Josh Grispi in November 2010.
However, a neck injury sustained in training put the Brazilian out of action and forced him to pull out, leaving Grispi to fight and lose to Dustin Poirier (who McGregor defeated last year).
Aldo returned in time to win his first title defence against Mark Hominick the following April by unanimous decision.
Aldo v Koch
In July 2012, Erik Koch was scheduled to fight Aldo at UFC 149 but injury struck again as the Manaus native, with the resulting fight postponed.
Aldo v Edgar
While Aldo would eventually fight - and beat - Frankie Edgar in February 2013, a battle originally scheduled for UFC 153 four months earlier did not go ahead after a motorcyle accident left Aldo with a foot injury, with the 28-year-old pulling out a month beforehand.
Aldo v Mendes
These two were involved in 2014's fight of the year but they were supposed to fight in August 2014 in Los Angeles, only for Aldo to suffer an injury in training which led to it being called off a month early.
As it happens, Aldo's latest training-enforced injury (he might want to review his methods) has given Chad Mendes the chance to take on McGregor on July 11th as the 11th hour replacement.
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