UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones retained his title on Saturday night, defeating Dominick Reyes in the main event of UFC 247 in Houston.
Jones was pushed to his limits in what was arguably the toughest title defence of his career with Reyes looking much the stronger in the opening rounds.
The challenger had been undefeated in his 12 previous professional fights, beating the likes of Chris Weidman and Volkan Oezdemir, but was the heavy underdog coming into last night’s main event.
Reyes was calculated with his strikes and kicks throughout but Jones began to grow into the fight towards the championship rounds as he looked to put away another challenger to his light-heavyweight throne.
The fifth and final round was certainly Jones’ best of the fight however many in attendance in Houston felt that Reyes had done enough to claim what would’ve been a monumental win.
The judges though, all sided with the champion with the scorecards reading 48-47, 48-47 and 49-46, at the end of the fight.
After the bout, Reyes outlined that he felt he had done enough in the first three rounds to clinch victory.
“I thought I won [rounds] 1 through 3,” Reyes said. “He was on me 4 and 5. I had him 1 through 3, I was all over him. I’ll get better. I know I will.”
“I knew it was a really close right and I turned it on in the fifth round,” Jones said following the win. “That fifth round won me the fight. Those takedowns won me the fight.”
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