UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones knows who his next opponent will be, he just doesn’t know when he will face that opponent, Dan Henderson. Another thing that Jones knows is that he has no interest in engaging in a war of words with the former PRIDE and Strikeforce champion.
UFC president Dana White confirmed that Jones would face Henderson moments after the young champion defeated Rashad Evans at UFC 145. The win over Evans brought an end to more than a year of trash talk and insults between the two fighters. Speaking to ESPN, it seems as if Jones has no desire whatsoever to get involved in something like that again:
As far as Dan Henderson, I’m excited about [him], he’s a great fighter. You know, I’ve gone through a lot with Rashad as far as all of the trash talking and I really hope Dan’s listening and I really hope that Dan keeps it classy throughout this fight. I respect him as an older man, I respect him as a warrior and I just hope he keeps it classy and not drag me through another trash-talking bout. Let’s stick to why we’re really here, let’s just fight.
Jones could have chosen a better way to offer his respect to Henderson than by referring to him as “an older man,” but after all the back and forth with Evans, he is clearly burned out on the concept of verbal warfare with his opponents.
Throughout his career, Henderson has not been one to engage in a great deal of trash talk. True, he has taken some shots at Michael Bisping and Anderson Silva in the past, but over the long haul it seems that Henderson is much more focused on letting his skills do the talking for him.
There were some hopes that the Jones versus Henderson fight would be able to headline UFC 149, which is set to take place on July 21 at Calgary’s ScotiaBank Saddledome, but those hopes were recently dashed. Speaking to MMAFighting, Jones’ manager, Malki Kawa, said about a July fight, “It’s just probably a little too soon. There’s been no timetable yet but July probably isn’t going to happen.”
When the fight does receive a date and venue, expect Jones to be the heavy betting favorite, as the early lines have him as a -585 favorite over the +405 Henderson.
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