For the first time ever in the company’s 11 year history, The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has cancelled a pay-per-view event with UFC 151 card planned for September 1st in Las Vegas no longer happening.
In a media conference call today, UFC president Dana White said having to cancel the event was one of his all-time lows as UFC president but that the organization was left with no other option but cancel the event after challenger Dan Henderson suffered an knee injury (MCL) and couldn’t go on with the planned main event bout against Jon Jones.
The card was almost saved with Chael Sonnen willing to accept the bout against the dominant champion on just eight-days notice.
Not so willing however was Jon “Bones” Jones.
The 205-pound champion declined the bout on advice from coach Greg Jackson despite knowing that event failure was all but certain if the main event bout did not go off.
“Chael is just coming up from 185pounds. He said that not only would he face Jones in eight days, he’d jump in a plane to Vegas and fight him that night if he was asked to. Jon Jones said ‘I’m not fighting Chael Sonnen with eight days’ notice. Jones’s trainer, Greg Jackson, told Jon that taking the fight with Chael would be the biggest mistake of his life. That’s what he told Jon Jones. Let me tell you, this guy (Greg Jackson) is a sport killer.
“When you are a champion, much less one of the guys who is supposed to be one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, you are supposed to step up. Jon Jones is a guy a lot of fans don’t like, and I don’t think this is going to make him any more popular. Lorenzo Fertitta (UFC chairman and CEO) and I are disgusted with Jon Jones and Greg Jackson.”
“Good for you, Jon Jones, you’re rich and you don’t have to take this fight but what about the guys on the undercard? This is how they feed their families. They need this. This is one of the most selfish, disgusting decisions that doesn’t just affect you. You just affected 16 other guys lives and families. Many people, from fans to PPV distributors, TV networks, sponsors, and more importantly fighters who are working hard to support their families and build their careers are hurt badly by this selfish decision.”
Jon Jones will instead rematch Lyoto Machida at the planned UFC 152 event (now UFC 151), September 22nd in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
“I can tell you this right now, he ain’t turning down the Machida fight. If I get a call today that he’s turning down the fight, we’ll have another conference call.”
Yep. Dana is not happy at all with the Jones camp.
What about you fans? Any thoughts?