I'm no conspiracy theorist. I don't think that Zuffa architected the timing of Jose Aldo officially pulling out of UFC 189, and it goes without saying that Aldo's infirmity is a gut punch-level disappointment. With that said, the timing of that announcement certainly helped the Ultimate Fighting Championship in one particular capacity: burying its embarrassing UFC fight kit unveiling on Tuesday and quieting the Reebok backlash for the time being.
If not for the stakes and nature of the Aldo news, it would look like a classic politics-and-PR 101 maneuver, the timing just so particular, coming nine hours after the UFC-Reebok kit press conference -- long enough to get news reports out but not long enough to let everyone get their hottest, deepest screeds out there and certainly not long enough for the chirping voices in the MMA echo chamber to build to a full cacophony of scorn.