UFC 151: Why was the PPV event canceled?

The UFC has always prided itself on being a promotion where, no matter what, the show will always go on. However, that wasn’t the case for UFC 151.

UFC 151 was scheduled to take place on September 1, 2012 in Las Vegas, and was set to feature a headline bout between Jon Jones and Dan Henderson with Jones’ light-heavyweight title on the line.

However, with just eight days to go before the event, it was announced that Henderson had blown out his knee in training, resulting in his withdrawal from the event.

Injury withdrawals being a regular occurrence in the UFC, most fans simply expected the promotion to find a replacement for ‘Hendo’.

Incredibly, though, it was announced by Dana White that despite Chael Sonnen agreeing to move up to 205lbs and face Jones on late notice, ‘Bones’ had turned down the fight.

The result? UFC 151 became the first event in the promotion’s history to be outright cancelled.

At the time, White was apoplectic, slamming Jones and labelling his coach Greg Jackson as a “sport killer”.

Jones would eventually end up back in the good books of his promoter, but for many people, White and the UFC itself were at fault for putting together what had been labelled a weak card to begin with.

Eventually, all of the fights on the card were shifted to different cards – outside of Jones vs. Henderson, which was never put back together.

In the years that have followed, the UFC has cancelled two more pay-per-view events – UFC 176 in 2014 and UFC 233 in 2019. On both occasions, no fighter received the vitriol from White that had been afforded to Jones.

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UFC 151 Cancelled: Do Jon Jones and Dan Henderson still have beef?

With more than a decade gone since UFC 151 was cancelled, most observers would’ve been forgiven for assuming that any bad blood between Jon Jones and Dan Henderson would be long gone.

However, based on events this week, that may not be the case.

‘Hendo’ went on record back in September to claim that he’d been in the best shape of his career for the fight.

This week, meanwhile, his statement that he was “100% certain” of beating Jones drew scorn from the current UFC heavyweight champ.

‘Bones’ fired back by asking Henderson how he could be so confident when Jones had already choked him out, referring to their grappling bout in 2016.

Watch Jon Jones grapple Dan Henderson at Submission Underground 2 below.