Standing room only, unless you’ve paid a bomb or are Arnold Schawrzenegger.
UFC president Dan White admitted, in American Football terms, that he ‘had to take a knee’ when he learned featherweight champion Jose Aldo had pulled out of his title defence against Conor McGregor.
On June 30, Aldo’s coach withdrew him from the Las Vegas event and thrust The Notorious into an interim title bout with Chad Mendes.
While many expected the fight to drop behind Robbie Lawler’s first welterweight title defence, against Rory MacDonald, on the billing, White kept McGregor-Mendes as co-main event. Indeed, the Irishman and the American will fight last on the bill and have been the focus of the UFC 189 Embedded series.
Speaking to Jim Rome last night, White revealed that McGregor versus Mendes had actually become it’s highest-selling event in the United States. He said:
‘[Aldo] was a huge blow. What’s crazy is, though, that fight gets cancelled; we bring in Chad Mendes. The gate in Las Vegas, at the MGM Grand, was $6.8 million. We put in Mendes and the gate went to $7.1m.
‘We actually had to add in bleachers in there. It is the biggest event we have ever done in the United States.’
White was asked about the extent of Aldo’s injury and revealed that the Brazilian would lose out on millions from the bout. There is no doubt in White’s mind, too, that the champion was faking.
Aldo’s coach, Andre Pederneiras, said White, had sent him a tape of the spinning heel kick his fighter copped in training. It was a crunching blow and White believes it should never have happened, two weeks before a fight.
Referring to McGregor, White remarked, ‘This kid has backed up everything he has said… if he beats Mendes, it makes the Aldo fight even bigger than it was.’
White also revealed, to The Rusillo Show, how much money the injured champion, Aldo, has lost out on. ‘Millions of dollars… he probably would’ve made close to four millions.’
Hat-tip: Dave Doyle
