UFC
Dan Henderson injured, UFC 151 canceled; Jon Jones meets Lyoto Machida in Toronto on Sept. 22
Aug 23, 2012 - 1:15:43 PM Dan Henderson injured, UFC 151 canceled; Jon Jones meets Lyoto Machida in Toronto on Sept. 22

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

In what is quite possibly the biggest blow the UFC has suffered in years, Dan Henderson has been forced out of next Saturday's UFC 151 main event against Jon Jones, leading the organization to cancel the event in its entirety. UFC President Dana White revealed the unfortunate news during a media conference call on Thursday.

Henderson partially tore his MCL, and tried to find a way to fight through it but was ultimately forced out of the event. Chael Sonnen opted to jump in against Jones on eight days notice, but Jones would not take that fight on eight days notice. Instead, Jones will now face Lyoto Machida later this month at UFC 152 in Toronto.

"This is probably one of my all time lows as UFC president over the last eleven years," White said. "For the first time in eleven years, we're going to cancel an event. Dan Henderson has a partial tear in his MCL. He tried to train, he tried to continue. There was nothing we could do to save that fight."

White was vehemently upset about Jones turning down the Sonnen fight, calling him out as the only Champion to turn down a fight like this.

"The one thing that I never thought in a million years would happen, happened. Jon Jones said I'm not fighting Chael Sonnen on eight days notice."

Penick's Analysis: This is massively disappointing news, but White placing the blame on Jon Jones is ridiculous. Taking any fight on eight days notice isn't necessarily smart from a business standpoint, and had he taken that fight and lost it would have been massively detrimental to his career. And the UFC shoulders some of the blame for this because they had nothing for a co-main event to replace this fight in case something happened like it has. This is a massive, massive blow to the UFC, and a really bad situation, but it's not Jones' fault.