In the last defense of his light heavyweight title, UFC boss Dana White thought Dominick Reyes had done enough to dethrone Jon Jones.
28 fighters have tried their best to beat the long-standing UFC Champion.
Matt Hamill did, technically. Alexander Gustafsson and Vitor Belfort came close. One judge had Thiago Santos winning against Jones on their scorecard at UFC 235. But, Dominick Reyes? The #11-ranked UFC light heavyweight contender wasn’t afforded that feat against ‘Bones’.
Reyes fought Jon Jones at UFC 247 in 2020, a month before the COVID-19 pandemic put the world on lockdown. It was Jones’ final light heavyweight title defense and one of his absolute toughest with Reyes pushing the pace from the opening bell.
A former college football star, the underdog Reyes used his athleticism, footwork and striking skills to give Jones a run for his money.
Dana White had Dominick Reyes winning 3 rounds vs. Jon Jones
Reyes started off the five-round fight very strong, catching Jones off-balance with a punch to the body before fending off his first takedown attempt. Reyes defended 7 out of 9 takedown attempts from Jones, the UFC Champion unable to keep him down for more than a few seconds.
Jones was clipped early into the fight with Reyes pouring on the pressure in the early rounds. Reyes outlanded Jones in rounds 1, 2 and 3, attacking heavy to the body and to the head.
Jones’ best work was in the championship rounds, namely round 4 after a guns-blazing Reyes started to fatigue. Jones wore on Reyes with his wrestling and forward pressure on the feet.
“I had Dominick Reyes 3-1 going into the last round,” UFC CEO Dana White revealed his scorecard at the UFC 247 post-fight press conference.
Reyes thought he won rounds 1, 2 and 3 as well. The judges would see it much, much differently.
One judge scored fight 4-1 for Jon Jones
All three judges scored the opening round for Reyes, however it is rounds 2 and 3 where they differed. Judges Marcos Rosales and Joe Solis both scored the second round for Jones. Solis, who had Jones winning 4 rounds to 1, scored round 3 in favor of Jones as did judge Chris Lee.
Dana White singled out the 49-46 scorecard for Jones as ‘insane’, citing many disagreed with the judging in the light heavyweight title fight.
“My kids are terrorizing me that the fix is in and how can this happen?” White said.
“‘Dad, Reyes won that fight…’ and the list goes on and on of people that are reaching out to me,” White added.
“So, it’s not like there’s this landslide of people saying there was a ‘robbery’ or whatever. People have it all over the place. But the reality is, who gives a s***? We’re not judges. None of us are judges. The judges called the fight and that’s that.”
Jones vs. Reyes was one of seven fights that went to decision at UFC 247. Four of those had a dissenting judge with six fights ending in some sort of scoring controversy.
“As far as the judging and the reffing tonight, do I think it was perfect? I do not,” White said.
Following the controversial title fight loss at UFC 247, a fight many fans thought he had won, Dominick Reyes dropped his next three fights in the light heavyweight division.
Reyes eventually returned to the win column twice last year, stopping Dustin Jacoby and Anthony Smith under two rounds.
The former title challenger is scheduled to take on #8-ranked light heavyweight contender Nikita Krylov at UFC 314 on Apr. 12 in Miami.