UFC 151 CANCELLED!!!!! Dana White is not happy

So it turns out that Dan Henderson has had to withdraw from his UFC 151 Championship bout with Jon Jones due to a torn MCL. So with Hendo out Dana scrambled to find an opponent to step in and face Jon Jones on just 8 days notice. Dana White called on Chael Sonnen who told Dana he would fly to Vegas THAT NIGHT and fight Jones. When Dana Called Jones to tell him his new opponent was Sonnen. Jon Jones called his trainer Greg Jackson who told him that taking that fight on 8 days notice would be the biggest mistake of his career and not to take it. Jones then called Dana back and turned down the fight on such short notice. With no decent Main event for the fight card Dana was forced to scap the entire event and needless to say he is not happy. Dana also announced that Jon Jones will face Lyoto Machida at UFC 152 next month and said Jon Jones WILL fight Machida and kind of hinted that if he refuses the fight he could be released by the promotion. I know Dana is not afraid to release guys who screw up and piss him off (See Paul "semtex" Daly) So we will see how it all unfolds. I have included a link to Dana's call announcing it.

So Jon Jones is suppossed to be ranked amongst the best pound for pound fighters in the world but refuses a fight with 185 pound Sonnen. Is Jones scared or just smart? I mean Hendo and Sonnen are both strikers so it's not like he is going from fighting a striker to fighting a Jiu Jitsu expert. Dana sees this as a selfish move by Jones due to the fact that since the Card is canceled there are 15 other guys who are not going to get paid because of him not to mention the money that the UFC has spent promoting and setting up the event. Also the fans end up getting shafted because they were looking forward to this card but because of one persons selfish ways everyone is out of luck. So what are your thoughts on Jon Jones' actions?

Link to vid

Jones is actually making a very smart move. What do you mean scared? Look at who he has already fought, who he has beaten and he was going to fight Henderson. The man is a great fighter, but regardless he hadn't been preparing for a fight against another opponent, and would have been ill advised to fight them.

As for Dana cancelling 151, it just shows how the UFC is taking a turn for the business end of things, and less about the actual fighters. The way Pride did things was a bit better IMO. Anywho, the UFC will go on, I wish Henderson a speedy recovery, and I look forward to a Machida - Jones match at 152.

I am surprised that the only available replacement was Chael Sonnen, there's nearly 40 fighters in the LH division, and a lot of them train every day so should be virtually fight fit.

I think it was a smart move in one respect, and not so smart in the other - You don't want to be pi$$ing off Dana white!

Also come to think of it, instead of cancelling the whole show - Why not put on another main event with 2 guys from a different weight? - I think there's more to this story than they're letting on,..

NB:

I just checked online, and Lyoto Machida turned down the fight at UFC 152. so John Jones will now be fighting Victor Belfort instead.

www.ufc.com...

reply to post by JROCK2527


How was Jones gonna fight Sonnen if they are 20lbs apart ? Jones is 205 and Sonnen is 185.
Sonnen is a great wrestler and Jones will need more time than a week to review his fighting style in order to prepare accordingly, so that was a smart move on Jones part to decline the fight on such a short notice. Sonnen almost beat one of the greatest UFC fighters that UFC has ever seen last year... Anderson Silva. Jones has a lot more to lose than Sonnen if he lost this fight.

Chael Sonnen is one of Dana's go to guys when fighters drop out because he is willing to fight whoever when ever. And one of the few that Dana knows would be crazy enought to fight Jones on just 8 days notice. We will have to see what happens.

I don't understand why taking the Chael Sonnen fight would be a risk for Jon Jones. He has been training to fight a powerful wrestler and has now been offered a weaker smaller wrestler instead.

Jon Jones would destroy Chael Sonnen.

reply to post by taws6


Chael walks around at 220, so the weight wouldn't have been an issue. Jones was also a successful wrestler at college - So It was actually a good match up that wouldn't have needed too much time for fight study.

I agree that it was probably good move turning the fight down, but I think we will agree it would have been more beneficial taking the fight on.

Jones may have been training to fight someone else, but sonnen hasn't been training at all, he just came off that silva fight not to long ago. On top of that he is in a lower weight class then jones, and he still stepped up. They cancelled joe rogans stand up that was scheduled too.

Personally i think its a puss move on Jones, then again i wouldn't want to fight sonnen either, or jones whiles were at it

reply to post by richdoe


Did you watch henderson vs silva and sonnen vs sliva fights? Im not so sure i would say sonnen is the weaker of the two. I haven't seen anyone take it to silva as much as sonnen has, granted he does still come up short, but he made it a lot longer then henderson.

reply to post by DIRTYDONKEY


Don't forget Sonnen was on drugs when he first fought Silva, and still lost.
The 2nd fight was a more accurate outcome.

reply to post by OpenEars123


Never heard about him being on drugs hmmm I'll look into that thanks! From what I knew of him he doesn't even drink alcohol.

reply to post by DIRTYDONKEY


Yeah some sort of steroid enhancing thingy, he was banned from MMA for 12 months total I think..

reply to post by OpenEars123


He tested for high testosterone, he said he was taking it for medical reasons. He also go busted for some real estate scam, sonnen is pretty shady and the best trash talker in UFC,

I see the fight happening at a later date because knowing Sonnen and his trashtalking ways he is going to run his mouth until Jones fights him. Same way he did to get the rematch with Silva. Gotta say this guy knows how to get the big payday fights haha.