UFC 152: Jon Jones vs. Vitor Belfort for the UFC Light Heavyweight Belt
By Bleacherreport
August 24, 2012
IThe UFC cancelled UFC 151 Thursday afternoon after they were unable to convince light heavyweight champion Jon Jones to fight Chael Sonnen on short notice. UFC president Dana White then naturally assumed that Jones would meet Lyoto Machida at UFC 152 next month in Toronto, Canada.
Well, apparently that's not going to happen.
Ariel Helwani from MMAFighting confirmed with White that Jon Jones will instead meet Vitor Belfort in the new UFC 152 main event for the strap on Sept. 22. Belfort is getting the shot as he reportedly volunteered to take on Jones on one month's notice, and Lyoto Machida turned down a second opportunity at Jones after deciding he needed more time to prepare for the LHW champ.
Belfort was originally scheduled to face Alan Belcher at UFC 153, and White confirmed no decision has been made regarding Belcher's new opponent.
White also confirmed that since Machida turned down the opportunity, he will most likely have to face another contender in order to regain the title shot.
This writer is a bit confused at this news. White said during the emergency call this afternoon that the UFC was waiting on signed bout agreements for the Jones/Machida fight. They even went so far as to create an updated poster for UFC 152 to include Jones and Machida.
Somehow in the past 10 hours, things changed and a new main event was created.
Bleacher Report have more as news continues to trickle in about the UFC light heavyweight title.