Shocking news today as UFC 151 has been cancelled. Originally the card was built around a main event featuring a UFC Light Heavyweight championship bout between champion Jon “Bones” Jones and longtime MMA veteran Dan Henderson.
Henderson, training for the main event title fight against Jones, injured his medial collateral ligament and cannot fight. Replacements were quickly sought to keep the card going, however many fighters were unwilling to face Jones without the benefit of a training camp.
One fighter who did step up to the plate is Chael Sonnen, who has been goading Jones in interviews and on Twitter in recent weeks. Jones was presented with the option to fight Sonnen, but has refused the fight. Instead he will defend his title against number 1 contender, (based on UFC on Fox 4 results) Lyoto “the Dragon” Machida at the scheduled UFC 152 on September 22 in Toronto. No other fighter was willing to fight Jones as a replacement, without the benefit of a full training camp.
Henderson, Dana White, and Chael Sonnen have all heavily criticized Jones for not agreeing to the replacement fight in a UFC Conference call announcing the decision to cancel the event.
Without a main event, Dana White has made the tough decision to cancel the Pay Per View Event. White said that this is the first time in 11 years that a UFC event has been cancelled after a fight card was announced. The UFC previously cancelled a Montreal card, but there were no fights announced for that event.
