“I know I won that fight,” said Reyes. “I made Jon Jones look like just a man. I brought the fight to him.” Jones (26-1-1) handed the fourth-ranked Reyes (12-1) his first loss, improving.
Jon Jones. Ronald Martinez/Getty Images/AFPSource:AFP
Jon Jones retained his title at UFC 247, beating Dominick Reyes by unanimous decision. After the bout, opinions on the outcome were anything but unanimous.
- Jon Jones was floored early Reyes believed he had won the first three rounds but accepted the result humbly despite the crowd clearly unsatisfied by the result. “I thought I won one through three, he was on me in four and five, he’s a champion,” Reyes said.
- Credit to Jones on coming on strong 4th and 5th but I would of guessed Reyes won that fight on scorecards. — Chris Weidman (@chrisweidman) February 9, 2020. MOTHER FUCKING ROBBERY DOM WON THAT FIGHT.
- Dominick Reyes In the main event, referee Dan Miragliotta called an end to the bout at 5:00 of Round 5. Jon Jones defeated Dominick Reyes by Decision (Unanimous). Be sure to check out upcoming UFC events and don’t miss the latest MMA news.
Jones retained his light heavyweight belt Saturday night following a surprisingly strong opening by Reyes.
The unanimous decision of 48-47, 48-47, 49-46 was met with scattered applause and loud boos from the crowd, as many felt the challenger had proven enough to take the title.
UFC President Dana White addressed what turned out to be a disputed decision. “The scoring was all over the map,” said White, noting that he thought Reyes had a 3-1 edge entering the final round.
“My kids are terrorising me that, ‘The fix is in, how did this happen?’ People had it all over the place, but the reality is … we’re not judges. The judges call the fight, and that’s that. As far as the judging and the reffing tonight, do I think it was perfect? I do not. We need to do some work down here.”
White said the UFC can work with the Texas commission to help improve the quality of judging and officiating.
“I do feel disrespected,” Reyes said. “One of the judges had it 49-46. Who are you? I might want to have a word with you. I know I won that fight.”
UFC commentators Joe Rogan and Dominick Cruz, a former champion, also condemned the judge who delivered the 49-46 score.
“It makes me angry,” Rogan said after the fight.
“We’ve talked about it so many times. It’s less of an issue in some commissions where they’ve dealt with combat sports — particularly MMA — longer, but I can’t argue about this enough. I can’t get angry enough.
Who Won Jones Vs Reyes Live
“I’ve done it so many times. For anyone to think that was 4-1 Jon Jones; that person’s insane. Insane. Dominick Reyes put on a hell of a fight tonight … that kind of judging is insane.”
“I can’t be mad at this decision because of how close it was,” Cruz added.
“The one thing I will say, though, is that Joe Solis should have his judging card revoked to call that four-to-one. I don’t know what he’s been seeing tonight, but at least his name gets to be put on blast because he’s not doing a very good job in my opinion. But I’m not the judge.”
Joe Solis scored it 49-46 Jones.Source:Supplied
But not everyone agreed. “I know I’m wrong to do what I do because I’m not a trained judge but I will always weight later rounds more heavily than earlier ones,” Conor McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh said. “I ask myself who would survive a no time/rule encounter. Because of that it was a clear Jon Jones victory for me.”
White said he believes Reyes deserves a rematch after Jones faced his most serious challenge in years.
“I wasn’t always confident that I was winning the fight,” Jones said. “I was confident that I wasn’t going to give up or slow down. I think I displayed the difference between a champion and an extraordinary contender. Something special happens when it’s time for the champion to present himself, and you guys saw it tonight in the fifth round.”
Jones (26-1-1) handed the fourth-ranked Reyes (12-1) his first loss, improving to 14-0 in title fights. He became the all-time leader in UFC title defences, breaking the record previously held by Georges St-Pierre.
“I don’t think he was disrespected,” Jones said of Reyes. “I’ve got to watch the fight though. It’s hard to speak with confidence when I haven’t watched the fight.”
Jones was fighting for the first time since last July’s win over Thiago Santos at UFC 239, his longest period between fights in more than five years.
Reyes came out on the attack in the first round, briefly knocking Jones to the ground less than two minutes into the bout. Jones bounced back in the second round, landing several strong hooks to Reyes’ head.
The lively crowd swayed back and forth in support of either fighter, chanting both names at different points.
Both men claim victory after the final round. Picture: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images/AFPSource:AFP
In the third round, Reyes landed blows to Jones’ head, and he drew blood early in the fourth round. Jones finished that round strong and the once-lively crowd became quiet and tense in anticipation of the final round.
Who Won Jones Vs Reyes Cardinals
Jones ramped up his attack in the final round, but Reyes seemed to keep enough separation from the champ to put it in the judges’ hands.
Reyes, a 30-year-old from Southern California who played college football at Stony Brook, said before the fight that he expected a victory and that it would be “life-changing.”
Instead, he was dealt a controversial loss and said he hopes to get a rematch. “For me, this is huge validation,” Reyes said. “This was my very first time going all five rounds, and it was against Jon Jones, arguably the greatest of all-time. And I put it on him. I mean, I really took it to him. I feel like I’m the peoples’ champ.”
In the co-main event of UFC 247, flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko defended her title against Katlyn Chookagian, stopping the challenger in the third round.
The Kyrgyzstan-native Shevchenko (19-3) won her fifth bout in a row in dominant fashion over Pennsylvania-native Chookagian (13-3), who entered as the top-ranked contender for the belt.
Earlier on the pay-per-view portion of the 12-bout event at the Toyota Center, Houston-native heavyweight Derrick Lewis (23-7) beat Ilir Latifi (15-8) via unanimous decision with a surging rally late.
Who Won Jones Vs Reyes Fight
Another Houston-native, heavyweight Juan Adams, had a much more bitter homecoming, getting stopped in under two minutes by New Zealand-born Australian Justin Tafa, who earned his first UFC win.