Jon Jones remains defensive of his decision to pass on a replacement fight with Chael Sonnen, but amid a firestorm of controversy and blame over the cancellation of UFC 151, the Light Heavyweight Champion accepted responsibility in a Twitter post Saturday.
“Carrying the cross for my company’s decision. If someone has to take the blame, I will accept full responsibility for the way UFC 151 was canceled,” wrote Jones. “I want to sincerely apologize to all the other athletes/fans who’s (sic) time and money was waisted (sic).”
After Jones’ original opponent Dan Henderson fell to injury, UFC brass offered the champion Chael Sonnen as a short-notice replacement for next Saturday’s UFC 151. Jones passed, prompting UFC President Dana White–and later Sonnen–to rant on Jones for the unprecedented decision.
Without a main-event, White was forced to cancel the show, refunding fans for their ticket purchases and doing his best to move the undercard fighters to different shows. Jones, meanwhile, will now fight Vitor Belfort in the main-event of UFC 151.
Though Jones and coach Greg Jackson have stood by their decision to pass on the Sonnen fight, they also did not assume that the whole card would be scrapped as a result.
“I feel terrible, but it also wasn’t my decision to cancel the whole card. I don’t make those decisions,” explained Jones in an earlier statement on UFC 151.
In Saturday’s Twitter post, he simply wrote, “I feel terrible about the way that was handled.”