Dana White: If Conor McGregor beats Chad Mendes at UFC 189, Jose Aldo fight will be 'even bigger than it was this time'

Conor McGregor and the rest of the mixed martial arts (MMA) universe were hopeful that all UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo suffered was a bruised rib during a June sparring session at the latter's Nova Uniao camp in Brazil.

After initial reports stated that it was indeed a bruise, "Junior" lamented that he did incur a broken rib (x-ray here). The 28-year-old, pound-for-pound great dropped out of a planned UFC 189 headliner in Las Vegas, Nevada, (more on the card here) featuring both he and "Notorious," leaving UFC president Dana White to insert two-time title challenger Chad Mendes as a replacement (much to the chagrin of Frankie Edgar).

The show must go on!

With much of the palpable buzz generated prior to Aldo pulling out, it would seem as if some would disappear after he did? That turned out to be quite wrong as UFC 189, which takes place TONIGHT (Sat. July 11, 2015), is shaping up to be the biggest pay-per-view (PPV) of the year.

With all the skirmishes and heated weigh-ins, if the boisterous Irishman were to dispatch of "Money" in round two, as he once tried to bet White $3 million he would, than the latter plans to double up his efforts on the second go-around of Aldo/McGregor.

"If [McGregor] beats [Mendes], the Aldo fight is even bigger than it was this time," White told MMAFighting. "It's even bigger. And me and Lorenzo have already talked about it. We're gonna spend even more money than we did this time. We've gotta try to top the last commercial and all that sh*t."

Of course, had things gone as the UFC had originally hoped, White expected the number of pay-per-view buys, as well as the turnout of hysterical fans at the weigh-ins to have risen because of the massive amounts of money put into promoting Aldo/McGregor around the world, on billboards and commercials during the 2015 NBA Finals.

Still, White finds it hard to complain as the fight was not canceled and Mendes played the role of company man, stepping up on short notice. He is also aware that plans for an Aldo/McGregor bout have the chance of being squashed when Mendes collides with "Notorious" in the main event of UFC 189.

"We're lucky that Chad Mendes is a stud and stepped in on two weeks notice to take this fight and always stays in shape and was dying for this opportunity. So, we still have a great fight," admits White. "Everybody in this room knows what a bad ass Mendes is and everybody has been saying Conor didn't fight a wrestler, Conor didn't [earn] his way to the top, da da da.

[Mendes] is the No. 1-ranked guy in the world. He's only ever lost to Jose Aldo. He's got knockout power. He's probably one of the best wrestlers, it not the best wrestler, in the sport."

Who do ya got, Maniacs? "Money" or "Notorious"?

It is almost time, which means you should be locked to MMAmania for all of your UFC 189 coverage, which includes live updates, post-fight recaps and analysis, plus much, much more!