Dana White talks about Frankie Edgar’s injury and how replacing him with Jose Aldo affected UFC 218’s ticket sales.
Former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar was slated for his third shot at the featherweight title when he was scheduled to fight Max Holloway at UFC 218. Unfortunately, a cracked orbital bone sustained during sparring forced “The Answer” to pull out three weeks ago.
During a media scrum in Las Vegas on Tuesday, UFC president Dana White was made to wonder how such a severe injury could happen during training.
“My question for Frankie – and I haven’t talked to Frankie yet, Frankie is in Russia or something right now, I think – but how do you break your orbital in training? Unless it was a freak knee to the eye in wrestling or something like that,” White said (via MMAjunkie).
“Who’s hitting you that hard in your training camp that you break your orbital? That’s insane. Anybody know the answer to that question?”
On the other hand, White has been pleased about Jose Aldo being Edgar’s replacement and even credited the former long-time 145-pound champion for the sudden boost in UFC 218 ticket sales.
“You know what’s funny? So, the Detroit show is on par to sell out. We’re selling out,” White said. “The show’s going to be a sellout. You know when you’re going to sell out because of how many tickets you have left and how many days. We put Jose Aldo on the card, and…. Tickets. Yeah.”
“We’re going to find out how hungry Jose Aldo is and how bad he wants that belt back. He’s getting this opportunity because Frankie fell out. Life is all about jumping on those opportunities. I actually liked it that Aldo wanted this fight like that. It’s awesome. I’m excited. I’m excited for that fight.”
UFC 218 takes place this Saturday, December 2nd, in Detroit, Michigan.