UFC president Dana White appeared on The Jim Rome Show earlier today to discuss a variety of issues, and of course, the issue of his strained relationship with Jon Jones and the cancellation of UFC 153 came up, leading to the following exchange:

Rome: "Jon Jones said he felt like he was treated like a piece of meat by the UFC."

White: "I wonder how this piece of meat felt when we bought him a Bentley."

White continued with a less overt swipe at Jones, explaining how Anderson Silva, to whom Jones is often compared, stepped up for the UFC during the debacle of the UFC 151 and injury riddled UFC 153 fight cards.

"Silva called to say, ‘Hey Boss, I'll fight at 205 and save the show in Las Vegas on 8 days notice,' but it was a few hours too late," White explained. "So when [the injuries to Jose Aldo and Rampage Jackson] happened, I called him up and he stepped up and said, ‘Absolutely, I'll fight. I only have 3 weeks to make 185 lbs and can't do that right now. But I will fight at 205.'

"And I thought, ‘How can I find someone at 205 willing to fight him when we couldn't find at 205 willing to fight Jon Jones on a month's notice?'

"Then I get a call from Stephan Bonnar and he is pumped. He says that Silva is the perfect style for him and he wants this fight more than anything. Does this fight make sense? Of course it doesn't. But the bottom line is that Anderson and Bonnar stepped up."

White and Jones plan to meet in Toronto before UFC 152 where Jones is scheduled to face Vitor Belfort for his light-heavyweight title. The two have been at odds over the past month over Jones' unwillingness to agree to fight middleweight contender Chael Sonnen at last months UFC 151 on 9-days notice. 

The decision set of a chain of events which eventually led to White canceling the event entirely, the only time the UFC has done so in its history.