UFC 247: Jon Jones takes contentious unanimous decision over Dominick Reyes in hard-fought war

Jon Jones broke a UFC record with his win over Dominick Reyes at UFC 247, bringing his tally of UFC championship fight victories to 14. However, many will argue it should have been Reyes who left the Octagon with gold wrapped around his waist.

Reyes undoubtedly provided Jones his sternest test in the cage since Alexander Gustafsson took “Bones” to a decision at UFC 165 back in 2013.

“The Devastator” took the fight to Jones and was the aggressor for the vast majority of the bout’s opening 15 minutes, landing big punches accompanied with heavy kicks to the legs, body and head.

While Jones’ defence was pretty impressive at times, his offence was lacking in comparison to the high volume put onto him from his counterpart.

Reyes hurt the Jackson-Wink product in the fourth round, forcing Jones to initiate his wrestling game. The 30-year-old showed off some impressive takedown defence, but the improved pressure put onto him from Jones started to wear on the man who had never fought five rounds before.

Jones was much the fresher fighter towards the end of the fight, landing his best strikes in the fight’s final stanza.

All the judges sat cageside scored the fight in Jones’ favour to see him retain his belt. Jones was given scores of 48-47 twice, and, inexplicably, one judge scored the fight 49-46 in Jones’ favour, awarding only one round to Reyes.

The judges were inconsistent throughout UFC 247 and many MMA fans and figureheads disagreed with their view of the night’s main event.

Regardless of the judges, it was a fantastic fight and surely a Fight of the Year candidate despite it only being early February.

Jones smashed a big record and Reyes earned the respect of his opponent as well as the MMA world watching on.

 

UFC 247: Valentina Shevchenko bludgeons Katlyn Chookagian in third title defence

Katlyn Chookagian was no match for UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 247.

Kyrgyzstan’s Shevchenko was in fine form in Houston as her supreme striking skill overwhelmed the American, handing Chookagian her first-ever stoppage loss.

“Bullet” delivered stunning moments in each of the contest’s two-and-a-bit rounds as she eased to her third UFC championship defence.

In the first, she penetrated Chookagian’s defences with leg kicks and blitzed counter combinations, only to split “Blonde Fighter” open with a nasty elbow on the ground in a first-round final salvo.

Shevchenko then turned on the style in the second round by landing a beautiful wheel kick, which was quickly followed up with a high axe kick.

Then came the third and final round where Shevchenko grounded her foe before trapping her in a mounted crucifix to deliver a series of unanswered blows to force the referee to stop the fight.

Really impressive performance from Shevchenko, who quickly erased any complaints about her timidity against her last opponent Liz Carmouche.

 

UFC 247: Jon Jones vs. Dominick Reyes full results

Light Heavyweight: Jon Jones (c) def. Dominick Reyes Decision by unanimous decision after five rounds
Women’s Flyweight: Valentina Shevchenko (c) def. Katlyn Chookagian by TKO (punches and elbows) at 1:03 of round three
Heavyweight: Justin Tafa def. Juan Adams by TKO (punches) at 1:59 of round one
Featherweight: Dan Ige def. Mirsad Bektić by split decision after three rounds
Heavyweight: Derrick Lewis def. Ilir Latifi by unanimous decision after three rounds
Middleweight: Trevin Giles def. James Krause by split decision after three rounds
Women’s Flyweight: Lauren Murphy def. Andrea Lee by split decision after three rounds
Welterweight: Khaos Williams def. Alex Morono by KO (punches) at 0:27 of round one
Bantamweight: Mario Bautista def. Miles Johns by TKO (flying knee and punches) at 1:41 of round two
Bantamweight: Journey Newson def. Domingo Pilarte by TKO (punches) at 0:38 of round one
Bantamweight: Andre Ewell def. Jonathan Martinez by split decision after three rounds
Featherweight: Youssef Zalal def. Austin Lingo Decision by unanimous decision after three rounds