“This is one of those selfish, disgusting decisions that just doesn’t affect you,” Dana White fumed back in 2012. Why? At the time, UFC 151 was scrapped entirely, the first event in the promotion’s history to be canceled after a main event fell through. The reason? Jon Jones, then the reigning light heavyweight champ, had refused to take a last-minute replacement fight against Chael Sonnen after Dan Henderson pulled out due to injury.

The decision turned the sport upside down and left the MMA sphere in an uproar. Some fans blamed Sonnen for ambushing the card. Others called Jones selfish. And Dana White? He was furious. Fast forward to 2025, and Jon Jones is finally ready to unpack it all.

Jon Jones claims Dana White didn’t “see the logic” in his UFC 151 refusal to fight Chael Sonnen

In a revealing appearance on the Full Send Podcast, Jones was asked point blank, “What was one error or one moment where you really p— Dana off?”. Without skipping a beat, ‘Bones’ replied, “Oh, UFC 151, me refusing to fight Chael Sonnen. That man, he just didn’t see the logic in it. When you’re not the one in there creating the art then it’s easy to just say how easy it is, you know, to create the art, but you know, I respect the process, and I have to show respect in the way that I do things. And yeah, that p—-d him off though.”

So what exactly happened behind the scenes? At the time, reports emerged that revealed Dan Henderson had torn his MCL (medial collateral ligament) not too far out from the fight night. The UFC and Dana White scrambled and called Sonnen to step in. ‘The American Gangster’ said yes, and the boss asked Jones to do the same.

But Jones wasn’t buying it. He continued, “Maybe it was Dan Henderson, I was supposed to fight, cancelled the fight, he got injured. Supposed to fight Chael Sonnen instead, Dan Henderson and Chael were really good friends, and I just assumed that they were in cahoots and I didn’t want to put myself in any type of disadvantage by taking a fight last minute, despite how above people perceive that I was.”

These new remarks shed much-needed light on a decision that has followed ‘Bones’ ever since his refusal. He believed it was a matter of principle, respecting the preparation, the process, and the sport. Despite the heat from Dana White, the media, and fans, Jones stood firm.

Sonnen and Jones would eventually step into the cage against one another at UFC 159, and ‘Bones’ would walk away victorious in dominant fashion via a TKO in the very first round. But the scars of UFC 151 didn’t fade so easily.

The relationship between Jones and the UFC brass took a hit. White, used to fighters jumping at opportunities, saw Jones’ refusal as defiance. And for a while, it looked like trust between champion and promoter had been fractured beyond repair. Today, with Jones now the undisputed heavyweight champion, it seems like the entire saga has cooled off, and while he doesn’t regret the decision, he can see it in a larger context, as evidenced by his recent revelation.

But while Jones’s remarks shed much-needed light on the repercussions of his decision, Chael Sonnen has an entirely different take on their fight. And he believes the delay in the Tom Aspinall vs. ‘Bones’ title unification bout might have something to do with him!

Chael Sonnen takes the blame for the delay in the Jones vs Tom Aspinall bout

Only Chael Sonnen could rewrite history with a straight face and make you question what really happened. To most fans, Jon Jones’s clash with Sonnen at UFC 159 was one-way traffic as mentioned above. But there was a twist. Moments later, inside the cage, ‘Bones’ noticed his toe was mangled, nearly detached—a freak injury that could have almost stopped the fight if it had lasted a few seconds longer.

But Sonnen? He sees it differently. During a recent appearance with Daniel Cormier on ‘The Broadcast Boys’, Sonnen jokingly claimed, “I ripped Jon’s toe off. I ripped it off and I threw it into the second row. I’m the lineal champion to this day, and that includes over ‘DC’.”

He wasn’t done just yet. With his signature blend of bravado and wit, ‘The Bad Guy’ flipped the script and continued with, “The entire reason Jon Jones won’t sign to fight Aspinall is because he’s limping around from the foot that I gave him.”

Sonnen’s claims, as always, straddle the line between comedy and chaos. But one thing’s for sure: history hasn’t stopped following Jon Jones. From UFC 151 to today, the shadow of that decision still lingers. And with Tom Aspinall still waiting and Sonnen talking, the spotlight on ‘Bones’ isn’t going anywhere soon!