Dan Henderson believes he would’ve “beat the f*ck” out of Jon Jones had UFC 151 fight gone through

Dan Henderson has no doubts about how his UFC 151 light-heavyweight title fight with Jon Jones would’ve gone.

‘Hendo’ and ‘Bones’ were famously slated to clash well over a decade ago. As the story goes, Dan Henderson was fresh off his incredible fight with Shogun Rua at UFC 139. That victory, as well as a three-fight winning streak coming over from Strikeforce, was enough to earn a title shot against Jon Jones.

Sadly, that fight never came to fruition. Famously, Dan Henderson suffered a knee injury in the build to the UFC 151 light-heavyweight title bout. Furthermore, Jon Jones decided to decline a fight with short-notice replacement, Chael Sonnen. Quickly, Dana White and other top company executives slammed the champion for turning down the replacement bout, stating that he ‘killed’ the card.

Over a decade removed from the whole ordeal with Jon Jones, Dan Henderson reflected in a recent interview with ESPN. There, the former PRIDE champion stated that there’s no doubt he would’ve dominated ‘Bones’ had the fight gone through. Furthermore, the longtime fighter stated that he views the canceled bout with Jones as the only fight that got away.

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Image via: @danhendo on Instagram

“That’s the one fight I wish I would’ve had that I never had,” Dan Henderson stated when asked about his canceled UFC 151 fight against Jon Jones in an interview with ESPN. “I was the probably the most prepared for that fight that I’ve ever been. Just kind of blew my knee out a little bit, before the fight. It happened about three weeks before the fight, when I hurt my knee. Still had the idea that I was going to be able to fight, it would’ve been tough but I would’ve gotten it done. My team kind of talked some sense into me, it wasn’t a smart idea.”

He continued, “That’s the only fight I’ve pulled out of in a 20-year career. So I was kind of bummed… I was 100% certain I was going to beat the f*ck out of him, so. I absolutely would have beat him up, in my mind I was so prepared. Not just physically prepared, but tactically. My gameplan, everything, being used to longer guys. I just was so ready, and I think all my training partners would attest to that.”

While Dan Henderson and Jon Jones failed to meet in the cage, they later had a grappling match. In December 2016, ‘Bones’ was on suspension, stemming from his UFC 200 drug failure. As a result, he booked a grappling match with ‘Hendo’ at Chael Sonnen’s Submission Underground.

In the grappling match, Jon Jones notched an early submission win by arm-triangle choke. While a tough loss, it’s clear that Dan Henderson knows things would’ve been different in an actual fight in the cage.

What do you make of these comments? How do you think the fight between Jon Jones and Dan Henderson at UFC 151 would’ve gone?