UFC 151: Jon Jones Takes Another Step Back in the Eyes of the Fans

News that UFC 151 has been canceled broke Thursday afternoon, when it was revealed that Dan Henderson had torn his MCL in training, and would not be ready to compete on September 1.

UFC president Dana White made the announcement during a conference call with the media (h/t Sports Illustrated).

Fighters bowing out of contests—even title fights—is nothing new to the UFC and its fans, who recently endured the "summer of replacement fights."

But unfortunately, in the case of UFC 151, we won't even be getting a replacement fight.

That's because Jon Jones has opted to decline a bout against would-be substitute opponent Chael Sonnen, who offered to take the bout on eight days notice.

Bravo Sonnen, boo Jones—that is likely to be the fallout from the ordeal, and Dana White seems to agree.

Per SI, White was "disgusted" by Jones' response.

White went on to say that the UFC has never had a champion refuse to fight someone, and that "As much as he's [Jones] won and with all the things he's accomplished in a short amount of time, he's been a champion that hasn't been very popular. I don't think this is going to do wonders for his popularity."

As White points out, Jones has struggled to maintain any sort of positive following since rising to the top of the UFC's light heavyweight division, and this latest turn of evens will do little to change that.

Many UFC fans have criticized Jones for being arrogant, smug and phony during his time in the limelight, and are now likely to add selfish and cowardly to the list. Add in recent legal troubles stemming from drunk driving, and Jones' reputation is truly in a free fall.

In fact, this may be the moment that Jon Jones officially became a UFC villain—and not the character-type that his would-be opponent Sonnen likes to portray. After all, Sonnen offered his services up in the face of staggering odds, whereas Jones chose to disband an entire event because his opponent was switched.

It has been determined that Lyoto Machida will face Jones at a rescheduled UFC 151 sometime later this September. 

There are few certainties in MMA, but one just squeezed into existence—when Jones takes the Octagon for that fight, there won't be too many people cheering for him to succeed.