Anderson Silva Tried To Save UFC 151, Says Jon Jones Could Have Fought Chael Sonnen

UFC Light Heavyweight champion Jon Jones has faced heavy scrutiny in the last week after turning down Chael Sonnen as a late replacement fight for UFC 151. When Dan Henderson pulled out of the championship bout, Jones decided he would rather wait until UFC 152 than fight the former Middleweight contender. Jones's contended that only 8 days wasn't enough to fight someone like Chael and it was a lose-lose situation for him.

In the meantime, many other fighters and analysts have had the time to speak up and now Middleweight Phenomenon Anderson Silva gave his view to Rede Globo (via Sherdog):

You have a whole camp preparing to fight a specific athlete When the opponent changes, the preparation changes a bit. I thought he could have fought Chael, but it’s his decision. He prepared to fight Dan Henderson. The whole team thought it was best not to fight.

When I heard the event might be canceled, I called [UFC President] Dana White and said I would fight in the light heavyweight division against someone who also wasn’t training for the event. Besides the main fight, the event had many other fighters who depended on it. I worried about that, because I have lived through situations like this in smaller events.

One of the biggest criticisms of Jones's decison has been speculation on what other UFC champions would have done in his place. This declaration by elder-statesmen Andersone Silva doesn't help Jones's case. On the other hand, it's very easy for Silva to say what he'd have done when he's not in Jones position.