Jon Jones successfully defended his light heavyweight belt against Dominick Reyes at UFC 247 on Saturday, but his record-setting 14th championship victory didn't come easy. Jones and Reyes went all five-rounds and while the champion came away with a unanimous decision win, not everyone saw it that way.
Reyes opened the fight with relentless pressure and scored a flash knockdown in the first. He kept up the pace in the second, attacking with a combination of punches and kicks that kept the champion on the run. Jones didn't really take any major damage until the final 30 seconds of the frame in which Reyes landed a hard left uppercut.
Both fighters seemed to settle into a groove in the third round, mixing up their attacks and trading blows at a fast pace. Jones attempted his first takedown of the fight, but was rejected by Reyes, who returned an elbow. While Jones closed the round strong, Reyes and many other fight pundits believe he took the round.
“I thought I won one through three,” Reyes said after the fight. “He was on me in four and five. But I’ll get better. And this just proves that I’m the real deal.”
Jones did finally rise to the occasion in the championship rounds, scoring a takedown early in the fourth round. Reyes, who was starting to tire, defended well as Jones kept pressing and landing shots.
Heading into the final round, both fighters had a decent shot at coming away with the decision victory. Jones scored an important takedown in the opening minute, but Reyes got up. Jones was seemingly the fresher of the two fighters and landed more punches and kicks. None of it seemed to do any major damage to Reyes, but the champion was scoring more points in what ultimately proved to be the difference in the fight.
“I knew it was a really close fight,” said Jones. “That fifth round won me the fight.”
The fight was scored 48-47 twice and 49-46 for Jones, who moved to 26-1 with 1 NC. It was his 14th championship victory, surpassing Georges St-Pierre. The No. 4-ranked Reyes, who entered the fight with an undefeated record, is now 12-1.
UFC president Dana White weighed in on the controversial judges' scores, aacknowledgingthe disgruntled fans.
"I think there's a lot of controversy tonight," White said. "My son is in Laguna Beach [California] with a bunch of his friends at the beach house, he's freaking out on me, saying, 'You know Reyes won that fight. You know he did.' My son thinks the fix is in or something. It's crazy. There are some people very upset right now, and a lot of controversy about all the fights tonight."
"I've had scoring all over the map," he added. "I had people who had it 2-2 going into the last round. Joe Silva, former matchmaker of the UFC, had the fight a draw. But at the end of the day, none of us are judges. The judges scored the thing, they gave it to Jon Jones."
White said Reyes looked "awesome," but didn't commit to an immediate rematch for the challenger. For Jones, a move up to heavyweight seems possible.