Jon Jones faced his most serious challenge in years and ultimately held off Dominick Reyes at UFC 247 on Saturday night, retaining his UFC light heavyweight belt following a surprisingly strong opening by the challenger.
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.
“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 to 15-0 in title fights. He became the all-time leader in UFC title defenses. 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.
In the third round, Reyes landed blows to Jones’ head, and he drew blood early in the fourth round. Jones finished that round well and the crowd became quiet and tense in anticipation of the final round. Jones ramped up his attack in the final round, but Reyes seemed to keep enough separation from his opponent to put it in the judges’ hands, and the decision eventually went to the reigning champion.
“He landed some hard hits,” said Jones. “The fans like it when they see me get hit – it doesn’t happen very often. But at the same time, I landed some takedowns. I got his back on more than one occasion. ... A hard-earned victory but a victory.”
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 fighter Shevchenko (19-3) won her fifth bout in a row, fending off USA’s Chookagian (13-3), who entered as the top-ranked contender for the belt.
Meanwhile, Khabib Nurmagomedov’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, told ESPN on Saturday that his client is not interested in a rematch with Conor McGregor.
“The only chance this fight could happen is in the street,” Abdelaziz said. “[McGregor would] have to do something spectacular. He’s shit, you understand? Conor McGregor is one of the biggest stars because he’s one of the biggest scumbags.”