With Cancellation, UFC 152 Becomes UFC 151; Jones vs. Machida Headlines

With the cancellation of the UFC 151: Jones vs. Henderson event due to Dan Henderson suffering a knee injury in training, there’s been a reshuffling and renumbering of UFC 152.

Jon Jones now faces Lyoto Machicha in the main event on Sept. 22 in Toronto in a rematch.

“This fight (Jones vs. Henderson) is canceled and we’re moving; it will be Jon Jones vs. Lyoto Machida on Saturday, Sept. 22 on the Toronto, Canada, card at UFC 152,” UFC president Dana White announced via conference call on Thursday.

“Jones is in shape and ready to go.  Machida is next in line.  Dan’s hurt, so that’s the fight that’s going to happen,” said White.

White confirmed that UFC 152 will be renamed UFC 151.

“It will be 151,” he said.

UFC 152 was originally scheduled to feature the first UFC flyweight title bout between Joseph Benavidez and Demetrius Johnson as the headliner.  The flyweight title fight remains on the card, but will be pushed to the co-main event.  The event is now named UFC 151: Jones vs. Machida 2.

“Everyone knows we had a great fight (Rory McDonald vs. BJ Penn) fall off of that card.  We moved it to Fox.  We’ve been waiting to add another fight to that card.  Well, there you go,” said White about putting Jones vs. Machida on the Toronto card.

Although Jones was recently convicted of DWI in New York, UFC sources indicated that it shouldn’t affect his ability to gain entry into Canada for the fight in Toronto.

Stay tuned to MMAWeekly.com for more information about the UFC 151 cancellation and other UFC news.