5. Turning Down Chael Sonnen Fight
If you look in the annals of UFC history you will notice between events UFC 150 and UFC 152, there was never a UFC 151 event. Jon Jones played a large part in the UFC canceling the only event in the company's history (Zuffa era). UFC 151 was scheduled to take place Sept. 1, 2012 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Jones was to put his light heavyweight title on the line against former Pride and Strikeforce champion Dan Henderson in the night's main event. However, Henderson suffered an injury in training and was forced to withdraw just eight days prior to the event. Middleweight contender Chael Sonnen, who had just come off his epic performance against Anderson Silva (although he got submitted), volunteered to step in against Jones and fill the gap. It seemed like the perfect solution to save the main event (and ultimately the entire event), but Jones turned the fight down, citing his coach Greg Jackson who said, "it would be the biggest mistake of your career". UFC President Dana White was furious and held a press conference announcing for the first time ever they were canceling an event. Keep in mind as the fight was just a week away, most fans had already purchased their tickets. White labeled Jones' coach "a sport killer" and fans and fighters alike were outraged the light heavyweight champion wouldn't fight a middleweight (who had not even been training for a fight) on short notice.