Greg Jackson applauds Chael Sonnen's 'tactical brilliance' if Jones claim true

So Chael Sonnen fooled the world into thinking he didn’t know whether Dan Henderson was injured leading up to UFC 151, or he fooled the world into thinking he did.

Either way, Greg Jackson can’t hate.

“I don’t know if that’s true, but I’d like to think it is,” the trainer today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) in response to Sonnen’s recent claim he had advance notice of his former Team Quest teammate’s knee injury and “set up” Jackson’s pupil, light-heavyweight champ Jon Jones.

“I think Chael is very smart, and that would be another testament to that fact,” Jackson said. “I love the guy, and if he did indeed control the situation like that, it shows real tactical brilliance.

“He could also just be messing around, which is funny as hell. Who knows? Either way, I wish him the best.”

Given Sonnen’s penchant for outrageous claims, it would be ill-advised to take at face value his recent statement, which he gave during a Sunday edition of “UFC Tonight: Fight Edition.” Henderson couldn’t be reached for comment.

During his appearance, Sonnen (27-13-1 MMA, 6-6 UFC) changed his tune on a previous declaration that he was unaware of Henderson’s condition while talking about his upcoming fight with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (21-7 MMA, 5-5 UFC) at UFC on FOX Sports 1 1, which takes place Aug. 17 in Boston.

Sonnen was slotted to face Rua when Antonio Rogerio Nogueira bowed out due to injury. The two were expected to potentially meet at this week’s UFC 161 card, but visa issues kept Sonnen from getting into Canada for the fight and they instead were booked for August.

“It really got put together through [Nogueira's] cowardice,” he said. “I’ve been training for ‘Shogun’ for a while. I knew this was going to happen. This kind of reminds me of the time me and Dan Henderson set up Jon Jones on eight days’ notice.”

If true, the statement would cast a slightly different light on an infamous event in MMA history. The UFC canceled UFC 151, which was scheduled to take place Sept. 1 in Las Vegas, after it was confirmed that Henderson had been injured and Jones had declined to fight Sonnen on short notice.

Sonnen then claimed he had no advance notice of Henderson’s woe and took Jones to task for turning down the fight. UFC President Dana White, meanwhile, blasted Jackson for advising Jones not to take the short-notice opponent.

Later, Jackson claimed that Sonnen and Henderson were in cahoots and that Sonnen had been training for the bout. Henderson denied that claim in an interview with MMAFighting.com.

Jones and Sonnen eventually met at UFC 159, where Jones (18-1 MMA, 12-1 UFC) won a lopsided first-round TKO and injured his toe in the process. He is expected to return later this year to defend his title against Alexander Gustafsson (15-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC).

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

For the latest on UFC on FOX Sports 1 1, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Chael Sonnen)