Jon Jones eked out a controversial win on Saturday night at UFC 247, successfully defending his UFC Light Heavyweight Championship in a fight that many think was dominated by “The Devastator” Dominick Reyes. Jon won via a unanimous decisiou in the 5th round. The win marks his third successful title defense in his second reign with the belt, which he won by beating Alexander Gustafsson in December 2018.
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There was no love lost between Jones and Reyes heading into Saturday night’s fight in Houston. Reyes commented in an interview leading up to the fight that Jones had “never fought anyone with my sports IQ, he’s fought wrestlers, he’s fought strikers, but never athletes.”
“Bones” took exception to that.
“He’s fought wrestlers he’s fought strikers but never athletes“ -DR
probably the dumbest thing I’ve heard in a while
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) February 3, 2020
“DC {Daniel Cormier] competed in the NCAA finals and in the Olympics, [Ovince Saint Preux] played Division I football, [Ryan] Bader the current double champ of Bellator, Vitor [Belfort] crazy speed and explosive, Lyoto [Machida] had been striking since age 5, Glover [Teixeira] was on a 20 fight win streak but none of those guys are athletes I guess,” he continued in a series of tweets.
“Dominick Reyes, one of the greatest athletes in Apple Valley history. Being a big fish in a small pond for so long has really gone to his head,” he added. “Beating up on cans has got him convinced he’s a better athlete than most of the world. If he was so badass he would’ve won the California state wrestling championships, he would’ve went division one, He would have at least made a practice squad for the NFL. This man is delusional.”
In recent months Jones has teased the idea of making the long-awaited jump to UFC’s heavyweight division.
“I’ve been going against heavyweights my whole life,” Jones told the New York Post. “My brother is one of the best heavyweights in New York State wrestling history and I would wrestle him every day in high school. I’ve trained with many great heavyweights for years, so I’m very comfortable going against guys that are bigger and stronger than me.
“I guess all the questions I would have to answer is how am I going to do with the weight gain and all that type of stuff. There are just a lot of factors that I’m not familiar with that would probably motivate me.”
Cover photo via Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images
