Dan Henderson Fires Back at Jones-Sonnen Pairing for TUF 17 and Title Fight

It’s safe to say former Strikeforce and Pride champion Dan Henderson isn’t a happy man today after learning that his old friend Chael Sonnen would be getting the next shot at Jon Jones and the UFC light heavyweight title instead of him.

Henderson was in place to face Jones at UFC 151 in early September, but a late injury to his knee prevented the fight from happening.

Since that time, Henderson was shifted to a de facto No. 1 contenders fight against former champion Lyoto Machida, while Jones recovers from an arm injury that occurred in his last fight against Vitor Belfort at UFC 152.

The UFC on Tuesday announced that Jones would not be fighting any time soon and would instead coach on the 17th season of The Ultimate Fighter opposite Chael Sonnen.

Sonnen is moving back to the light heavyweight division in the UFC for the first time since 2005, and has not won a fight since losing to Anderson Silva in a middleweight title fight earlier this year.

But a very public Twitter war and plenty of talk from Sonnen aimed directly at Jones made this fight very appealing to the fan base, and the UFC is taking the shot at putting the two together as Ultimate Fighter coaches and then opponents in April 2013.

The formula now seems pretty clear to Dan Henderson, who vented his frustrations directly at UFC president Dana White when talking on Twitter late Tuesday evening.

“I guess I should just quit training to win fights and to be exciting for the fans and just go to (expletive) talking school,” said Henderson with the message aimed at Dana White’s Twitter handle.

Henderson and Sonnen are longtime friends, but it obviously doesn’t cushion the blow that Sonnen will be getting the next crack at the UFC light heavyweight title without a single win in the division, while Henderson has to now face Lyoto Machida with no guarantee he’ll get the next crack at the belt even with a win.

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