UFC prez says he 'might have to make' Jones vs. Sonnen

Could Chael Sonnen be next up for Jon Jones? UFC president Dana White says he might “have to make it.”
Sonnen-Jones for the UFC light heavyweight title would have been the main event at UFC 151 on Sept. 1. Dan Henderson pulled out of the fight with Jones and Sonnen accepted on eight days notice. Jones refused, though, forcing the UFC to cancel the event entirely.
Sonnen then went on a week-long verbal crusade against Jones, ripping the 25-year-old phenom in every outlet he could. The former middleweight No. 1 contender went as far as to name a chicken- and cheese-filled menu item at his pizza place in Oregon “The Jon Jones.”
None of that made the champ happy. Sonnen had been tossing barbs his way even before the two might have fought. Jones declined to tell The Post last week if he wanted a fight with Sonnen, but White believes, after beating Vitor Belfort at UFC 152 on Saturday night via fourth-round submission, that he would be open to it.
"I can tell you right now, I think they both want that fight," White told reporters after the UFC 152 post-fight press conference. "I think there are other fights that make more sense. (But) people do want to see it. If enough people want to see it, I guess I'd have to make it."
Sonnen is scheduled to face Forrest Griffin in December and would only likely get a title shot if he won. If he does win, a matchup with Jones probably wouldn’t happen until March or April at the earliest. That’s probably fine for Jones, because Belfort tweaked his arm pretty good in the first round Saturday and Jones speculated he could have nerve damage. He showed up to the press conference with it in a sling and will likely take a few months to fully heal.
If Sonnen beats Griffin, “he's going to call out Jon Jones, no doubt,” White said.
He did the same thing to middleweight champion Anderson Silva. After beating Brian Stann last October, Sonnen grabbed the mic and told the in-attendance Silva, “you absolutely suck!”
The two eventually fought in August and Silva won by second-round knockout. Silva beat Sonnen two years ago by submission in the fifth round, though Sonnen had won every round up until that point.
"Everybody talks about him talking his way into fights," White said. "But you know that guy's showing up to fight and win. That's why I don't really have reservations about it. When I called Jon and I thought he was going to take that fight – Chael will fight anybody. That's one of the things I respect about him."
Henderson and Lyoto Machida are rumored to be fighting in December and that very well should be a No. 1 contender fight since Henderson was due to get his shot earlier this month before getting hurt. But maybe White cuts the line with Sonnen. No one sells a fight better and he’s one of the UFC’s biggest pay-per-view draws.