UFC 247: Jon Jones beats Dominick Reyes by unanimous decision amid judging controversy
- Two judges score the Houston main event 48-47 for champion but one judge has it 49-46 to bemusement of crowd
- Reyes seemingly dominates first three rounds but says ‘this just proves I’m the real deal’
Jon Jones defeated Dominick Reyes via a controversial unanimous decision to retain the light heavyweight title in the main event of UFC 247 in Houston, Texas.
Two judges scored the fight 48-47 in Jones’ favour, with one having it 49-46, despite Reyes seemingly edging the champion in the first three rounds, in what was a hugely impressive performance in just his 13th professional fight against the greatest light heavyweight of all time.
“Yeah, Dom did a tremendous job,” Jones said to a smattering of boos in his post-fight interview inside the Octagon.
“Between the takedowns and the fact I completely dominated the fifth round … I felt like he hit me once out of every six times I hit him. That fifth round won me the fight. Those takedowns won me the fight, I believe in my whole heart I won that fight, but it was close.”
The win extended Jones’ record to 26-1 (one no contest) and he has now won the most championship fights in UFC history with 14.
“To break a record, to become a part of UFC history in this way, I wouldn’t want it easy,” Jones added. “If this stuff was easy, everybody out there in the audience would be doing it. It’s an incredibly hard thing I did tonight. Dominick is tall, he’s big, he’s strong. He was well coached.”
