As UFC 151 was cancelled at the last minute roughly two weeks ago, UFC President Dana White placed the blame almost entirely on UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and his head trainer Greg Jackson.
However, in an interview with Ariel Helwani on this week’s additions of UFC Tonight, White suddenly decided that the originally scheduled title challenger, Dan Henderson, should be held accountable as well (transcription via MMA Mania).
“Dan Henderson knew, two weeks before the fight—two weeks before he told me that he was injured—he knew. And had he given me that two weeks, like he should have, this fight might have happened,” he told Helwani.
Days after the event was cancelled, various media outlets reported that the knee injury that forced Henderson out of his main event fight with Jones was suffered several weeks ago.
Jones, a victim of heavy criticism by fans and of fighters alike for refusing to fight Chael Sonnen as a last- minute replacement, also began to throw Henderson under the bus when more details regarding the former PRIDE and Strikeforce champion’s injury were revealed.
As of late Tuesday evening, “Hendo” had not responded to any of the criticism from his boss or from the 25-year-old UFC title holder.
After a last-minute scramble, “Bones” now fights Vitor Belfort, who has not fought at light heavyweight for nearly five years, in the main event of UFC 152 on Sept. 22.
Does Henderson deserve a lion’s share of the blame for not coming forward with his knee injury sooner, or was UFC 151 doomed simply because of Jones’ unwillingness to fight a late replacement in Sonnen?
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