Jon Jones hasn't been keen on a rematch with Lyoto Machida, but that's the fight he's going to get.
With Dan Henderson (29-8 MMA, 6-2 UFC) suddenly out with a MCL injury, leading to the cancelation of next week's UFC 151 in Las Vegas, Jones (16-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) now will fight Lyoto Machida (18-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC) for the UFC light heavyweight title as the main event at next month's show in Toronto.
UFC President Dana White on Thursday confirmed the news on a media conference call. The previous headliner for UFC 152 in Toronto, a flyweight title fight between Joseph Benavidez and Demetrious Johnson, will serve as the co-main event.
Though it originally was thought the Toronto show would become the new UFC 151, the UFC announced shortly after Thursday's media call that Toronto will remain UFC 152 and UFC 151 simply will not exist.
UFC 151 was scheduled to take place Sept. 1 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas with a Jones-Henderson headliner. But when Henderson was forced out with a knee injury, and former middleweight title challenger Chael Sonnen offered to step up to challenge Jones, White got a big surprise when he says Jones and his camp refused to take the fight on eight days' notice.
So with few options, White said the choice was made shortly before the hastily assembled media call to pull the plug on the event entirely – which is a first in UFC history. Instead, Jones gets Machida, who was next in line after Henderson, at Air Canada Center in Toronto on Sept. 22.
White told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that there was no consideration given to moving the Benavidez-Johnson flyweight title fight to a different card as the main event, given its previous top billing in Toronto. Instead, White said it will merely be moved down to co-feature status.
"This is probably one of my all-time lows being president of the UFC the last 11 years," White said.
White's displeasure with Jones was evident throughout the call, saying Jones' decision cost the company "a lot" of money, and he alluded to a change in relationship between the fighter, himself and UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta because of the decision.
"The one thing I never thought in a million years would happen, happened," White said. "Jon Jones said, 'I'm not fighting Chael Sonnen on eight days' notice,' – something that's never happened in UFC history, a guy that's a world champion and considered one of the pound-for-pound best turning down a fight."
Las Vegas' loss may turn out to be Toronto's gain.
"We've been waiting to add another fight to that card, so there you go," White said of the Toronto show. "It didn't work out well for Vegas, but it worked out great for Toronto."
White also said he doesn't know what to expect out of the new title fight, given Jones had said he didn't want a rematch with Machida, whom he beat at UFC 140 with a second-round submission – also in Toronto at Air Canada Center. Jones' ride has been a roller coaster since last defending his belt at UFC 145 against Rashad Evans. He had a DWI arrest and subsequent plea and sentencing, but then earlier this month signed a sponsorship deal with Nike.
"I expect Machida to come out like somebody possessed," White said of the former 205-pound champion. "He's made it very clear to me how bad he wants it back. He feels like he did a lot of (expletive) wrong in their first fight, and he wants to correct that. And I don't know what to expect from Jon Jones anymore.
"This is won of those selfish, disgusting decisions that doesn't just affect you. (Jones) just affected other peoples' lives."
Source: Jones-Machida rematch headlines UFC 152 in Toronto, flyweight title now co-main