Frankie Edgar: If I was Jon Jones, I would have taken the fight

Pile on.

Jon Jones has always had his share of detractors but the number of fans and fighters expressing their disgust for him grew to shocking numbers in a matter of hours when news broke that UFC 151 was cancelled.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight kingpin was put in a less than desirable position. Dan Henderson suffered an injury and pulled out of their scheduled bout on Sept. 1, 2012, with only eight days remaining until showtime.

So when promotion President Dana White came calling with the offer to fight Chael Sonnen with only that much time to get ready, "Bones" flat out refused. It just wasn't enough time to adequately prepare for the switch up in styles.

White disagreed, vehemently, and Jones was the subject of a smear campaign. The latest to pile on, although he's being far nicer than most, is former Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar, who told MMAWeekly.com he would have taken the fight if he was in Jones' shoes.

"You don't know the whole story and everybody's side of it. It's kind of crazy. I think I would take the fight. If I had a full camp to prepare, and this guy only had eight days, I think I would, but you don't know. I think it all depends on match-ups and everything. I'd like to say I would (take the fight). I don't know what my team would say, but ultimately I'm the one to make that decision."

On the surface, Sonnen would seem to present less problems than Henderson. That's not to take anything away from "The American Gangster" but his game plan is just as clear as "Hendo's" was.

Instead of having to worry about the dreaded "H-Bomb," Jones would have been defending the takedown.

We're also talking about a guy who (likely) hasn't been training for a fight for almost two months. The champ, meanwhile, has put in a full camp and should be ready to go. The eight days notice issue is less an issue for him as it is for Sonnen.

At the same time, it's a risky proposition and Jones, despite his once-in-a-lifetime talents, is risk averse. Even if it meant cancelling an entire event and becoming the biggest villain in the industry, Jones wasn't willing to budge on taking such a risk.

But Edgar would have. So at least there's that.