The choice of Chael Sonnen As a new challenger for the light heavyweight belt, he generated criticism and complaints from other contenders for the title, but UFC president, Dana White, made a point of defending the controversial North American. For the director, the athletes who complained about the opportunity to Sonnen had the chance to replace the injured player Dan Henderson at UFC 151, with just eight days of preparation but only Chael accepted the fight.
“I've said it before and I'll say it again. Henderson had the opportunity to fight and was injured. Now Jones is hurt. All these guys who are complaining about the title shot now were approached to fight Jones and they didn't accept it. They did not agree to fight against the Jon Jones and now they are disappointed that Chael accepted the fight eight days in advance. These guys will do it, they will fight and we will have a legitimate challenger when Jones returns”, said White, in the telephone press conference, this Wednesday.
Soon after, White explained the reasons for choosing Sonnen. The president stated that Jones will only be able to return to the octagon in April 2013 and the contenders for the title, such as Lyoto, Shogun, Gustafsson and Hendo, must face each other to define the second challenger for the title.
“We found out that Jon couldn't fight until April and then it made sense to do The Ultimate Fighter. Machida can fight, Dan Henderson can fight, Gustafsson and Shogun should fight in December, so everything will be moving. Of course Chael wants this fight and the fans wanted it. Jon said 'I can't fight until April and I'd like to go out there and kick Chael's ass, and I'll defend the belt against whoever you tell me to defend it'. Whoever is next in line in the division will be able to fight the Jon Jones next for the title”, declared Dana.
Jon Jones e Chael Sonnen were chosen to be the coaches of the 17th edition of TUF, the UFC reality show, in the United States. The season begins airing in 2013 and the fight between the two takes place shortly afterwards, on April 27th.
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