Were friends/teammates Chael Sonnen and Dan Henderson colluding to take out UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones at UFC 151 last year?
According to “The American Gangster’s” comments on FUEL TV’s “UFC Tonight: Fight Edition” last night, that’s exactly what happened.
As a matter of fact, the three-time UFC title challenger goes on to say he was tipped off about Antonio Rogerio Nogueira’s recent injury as well, so he was been preparing to fight Mauricio Rua for some time (via MMA Fighting).
“You know, it really got put together through Little Nog’s cowardice,” Sonnen said. “I’ve been training for Shogun for a while. I knew this was going to happen. This kind of reminds me of the time me and Dan Henderson set up Jon Jones on eight days notice … Sonnen then deadpanned to the camera and said: “he finally admitted it.”
A quick recap of the UFC 151 debacle: Henderson was set to fight Jones in the card’s headlining bout, but he withdrew just eight days out from the event.
Sonnen stepped up to fight Jones on short notice, but “Bones” declined the last-minute title fight, and the event ended up being cancelled altogether (via UFC.com).
Shortly after the September pay-per-view event was scrapped, both “Hendo” and Sonnen‘s manager, Mike Roberts, denied that the Team Quest standouts had been working together in preparation for Jones.
After coaching opposite “Bones” on season 18 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Sonnen got his shot at the title at UFC 159, getting dominated en route to a first round TKO.
Was Sonnen actually being sincere about his recent comments, or was this just another example of the trash talker extraordinaire trying to stir the pot?
John Heinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com and contributes MMA videos to The Young Turks Sports Show.
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