Dana White: UFC 189 more successful without Jose Aldo, will be 'bigger than UFC 100'

I guess Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White had no reason to be "disappointed" after all.

That's because the UFC 189 pay-per-view (PPV) event, which takes place on Saturday night (July 11, 2015) inside MGM Grand In Las Vegas, Nevada, is actually performing better now that Chad Mendes has stepped in to replace the injured Brazilian.

That means more tickets sold, more PPVs bought, and more hits on UFC.com. But that didn't stop White from taking another shot at Aldo on UFC Tonight.

"He was medically cleared, but he decided to not fight," White told hosts Kenny Florian and Daniel Cormier. "He stood to make a lot of money in this fight. The bigger issue was making weight. You lose a fighter like Jose Aldo and put Mendes in and we added to the gate. This fight is breaking every record, pre-buys on PPV, traffic on the website, it's bigger than UFC 100. This will be the biggest fight ever."

That remains to be seen.

Mendes and his main event opponent, Conor McGregor, will have to beat Brock Lesnar and the storied UFC 100 event from 2009, one that still holds most of the promotion's box office records. That would be an impressive feat for combatants in a lighter weight class competing for an interim title.

Maybe now we can finally get that "Sin City" skydive?