The short story is Dan Henderson injured his knee and couldn’t fight next Saturday, prompting the UFC to offer Jon Jones a replacement opponent of Chael Sonnen. Jones, after speaking with his team, declined to take the fight on such short notice.

So, the UFC, instead of finding a new main event, or just running with the card they setup sans the main event, decided to just axe the event altogether.

In the process, they completely threw the light heavyweight champion under the bus.

Normally, I am on Dana White’s side of things. He is a hot head, no doubt, but he usually tells it like it is.

However, blaming Jones for the canceling of an event is simply a convenient way to take the blame off of himself and the UFC.

First off, canceling an entire UFC event is a big deal. It impacts the fighters, the venue, the host city and those that would be working the event.

Many fighters rely on a small paycheck from fighting on the under card simply to make ends meet. Due to the UFC’s venom spewed at Jones, many of those fighters are now taking their anger and frustration out on the champion as well.

But, let’s all take a deep breath and take into consideration two things:

1. Chael Sonnen is a tough opponent, no matter how long he has to prepare or what weight he is fighting at. The man is a grinder and a fighter that poses a great challenge to anyone. For Jon Jones to have 8 days to prepare for him isn’t a lot of time. Certainly it’s not a lot of time for Sonnen either, but he has nothing to lose in this scenario, while Jones does. The fight would be a no-win situation. If Jones won, he wouldn’t get much credit, because he’s fighting a smaller fighter. If he lost, it would be a huge upset and likely cost him millions in future fight purses and sponsorships. It’s easy for all of us not in Jones’ position to throw stones at him, but if we were in his spot, we would be hard pressed to not make the same decision. Jones deserves some blame here and it is disappointing he turned the fight down, but he didn’t cancel the show.

2. Why is the UFC not taking any heat for this? The organization has got so event-happy that it is putting together very weak under cards. If the UFC wasn’t diluting the PPV cards to have so many events, this card would have been strong enough to lose the main event and still go on as planned. If an event taking place or not taking place rides on one man, it wasn’t much of an event to begin with. Also, let’s realize that the UFC is doing the exact same thing that Jon Jones is doing. If the UFC wasn’t trying to do what’s best for its own pocket book, this event would still be taking place. There is no reason, if the UFC is so honorable and great, that they can’t have the fights that are still on the card take place next Saturday in Las Vegas. If losing a lot of money wasn’t their concern, like it was for Jones, they would deal with the bad attendance gate and the awful PPV numbers and just take the hit. If they were about the fighters and the fans as much as they are trying to sound like they are right now, they would accept the financial loss and not be pushing it all on Jones. They can certainly afford to pay the under card fighters and put on somewhat of a show for those that already have plane tickets and hotel reservations. But, instead they want to try to save as much money as they can and blame it all on Jones.

How would you feel to be Jones right now? Would you want to even compete in the UFC again? The UFC needs Jon Jones right now just like he needs the UFC.

Jones is becoming a huge star. He is the first to land a sponsorship deal with Nike. He can be the face of this sport and this franchise, making unimaginable money for himself and the UFC along the way.

It appears the UFC and Dana White would rather act like children because they didn’t get their way this one time. For once, a fighter faced with a truly problematic situation, didn’t drink the Kool-Aid.

Let’s not forget that Jones fought five times in 14 months recently. He has been a workhorse for the UFC. He does the promotional tours and public appearances for each of those fights. God forbid that he wanted more than 8 days to prepare for a fighter that nearly beat Anderson Silva.

Many of you may disagree with me, but take the UFC blinders off for a minute and really break this whole thing down. It’s not as cut and dry as Dana White wants you to think it is.

Betting odds have been released for this weekend’s bouts and Jones is the overwhelming favorite to defeat Quinton “Rampage” Jackson on Saturday. Jones has been given a money line of -485 while Jackson has odds of +385. Jones (13-1) has ran through his last four opponents, winning each fight by TKO or submission. Jackson (32-8) has won his last two bouts, both coming by decision. Jackson has had six of his last seven fights end with a decision, as his last KO win was in 2008.

In the co-main event, Josh Koscheck is the clear favorite to defeat Matt Hughes in a welterweight contest. Koscheck has odds of -455 to defeat Hughes, while the former welterweight champion has odds of +355 to win. Koscheck (15-5) is taking this fight on short notice and he hasn’t competed since last December when he lost to Georges St. Pierre. Hughes (45-8) hasn’t competed since last November, when he lost in 21 second to B.J. Penn. Hughes doesn’t have much left to fight for, but still is a dangerous wrestler with some good submission skills.

For complete odds for UFC 135, check out the jump.

UFC 135 Betting Odds

Saturday, Sept. 24

Pepsi Center

Denver, Col.

Jon Jones (-485) vs. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (+385)

Matt Hughes (+355) vs. Josh Koscheck (-455)

Rob Broughton (+295) vs. Travis Browne (-365)

Takanori Gomi (+210) vs. Nate Diaz (-260)

Mark Hunt (+265) vs. Ben Rothwell (-325)

Aaron Riley (+245) vs. Tony Ferguson (-305)

Nick Ring (+140) vs. Tim Boetsch (-170)

James Te Huna (-160) vs. Richardo Romero (+130)

Cole Escovedo (+155) vs. Takeya Mizugaki (-185)

Junior Assuncao (-130) vs. Eddie Yagin (+100)

MMAWeekly.com is reporting that the current Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion has agreed to return to the UFC to take on former PRIDE champion, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.

Dan Henderson and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua have verbally agreed to face off at UFC 139 on Nov. 19, MMAWeekly.com has learned.

Independent sources confirmed the fight, which will stand as Henderson’s return to the organization after defeating Russian heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko in Strikeforce.

The bout will likely be the new main event for the card that saw its prior main event between heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and no. 1 contender Junior dos Santos get moved to the main event of the Nov. 12 UFC on Fox fight card.

This is an exciting addition to UFC 139 and likely could be a No. 1 contender’s match in the division after Rashad Evans takes on the winner of Jon Jones vs. “Rampage” Jackson.

It’s surprising that these two never met in PRIDE, as both were legends and champions in the organization.

Both men have one-punch KO power and formidable skills on the ground, with Henderson being a wrestling specialist, and Rua being a submission specialist.

Here is a look at three different UFC events that have added to their cards.

– UFC 140 in Toronto go its main event as heavyweights Frank Mir and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira will have their rematch. The two met back at UFC 92 with Mir handing Nogueira his first stoppage loss. Mir KO’d Big Nog in the second round. Nogueira claimed a staph infection hindered his abilities and has been seeking a rematch since. Mir has won his last two fights and looking to get back into the title hunt with a win while Nogueira is coming off his KO win over Brendan Schaub at UFC Rio. UFC 140 also added Tito Ortiz vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Brian Ebersole vs. Rory MacDonald to the lineup.

– UFC 139 picked up a big fight as middleweight Vitor Belfort will return to action when he takes on former Strikeforce champion, Cung Le. This will be a battle of perhaps the two fastest strikers in all of MMA. Le hasn’t fought since June of 2010, when he KO’d Scott Smith to avenge his only loss. Belfort is coming off a KO win over Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 133. This fight should come down to which fighter strikes first.

– Jon Fitch will make his long-awaited return to the octagon at UFC 141 when he faces off with Johny Hendricks. Fitch hasn’t competed since February when he had a draw against B.J. Penn. Fitch had shoulder surgery that put him on the shelf for a while. Fitch hasn’t lost since his 2008 title fight with Georges St. Pierre. Hendricks has one loss in his career, to Rick Story back in December of 2010. He has won his last two fights, but is facing the toughest opponent of his career when he squares off with Fitch.