Last weekend at UFC 247, Jon Jones once again successfully defended his light heavyweight title, winning a unanimous decision over Dominick Reyes. But though the decision from the judges was unanimous, public opinion was far from it. A majority of the MMA media and fans were of the opinion that Jones got away with one and the term “robbery” was used, not unjustly. However, one man vehemently disagrees, and that man is the current UFC light heavyweight champion.

On Monday, seemingly in response to a pair of Tweets from Reyes calling for a rematch and saying he’d be the one to unseat Jones, the light heavyweight champion went deep on a Twitter rant, justifying why he was the rightful winner and suggesting that Reyes should be mad at himself and his conditioning instead of at the judges.

Dominic out struck me by literally 12 shots. I scored the take downs, was the aggressor, control the octagon every round, had more significant strikes landed.. Dom completely stopped fighting in the championship rounds and has the audacity to be mad at the judges. ‍♂️

Don’t be mad at the judges, be mad at Dom’s conditioning guy. man started to give up when the water got deep and is now going around doing interviews talking about being robbed. When will these young boys start taking responsibility that’s what’s wrong with boys these days.

To be fair to Reyes, while his pace certainly did slow in the championship rounds, he did not completely stop fighting. In fact, Reyes’ volume in rounds four and five was still higher than Jones,’ however the champion had much more success landing his strikes and did secure two very brief takedowns.

Jones’ reaction is to be expected though. Few fighters ever believe they lost a decision the judges rendered in their favor, and immediately after the fight, Jones began arguing that he got takedowns and “at one point I put a hook in”. But it is noteworthy that Jones feels compelled to defend his win so profusely, saying that he’s very happy with how everything worked out at UFC 247 and that fights like his battle with Reyes are the kind that make history.

Of course, now the question turns to who will Jones face next? The presumptive next contender is likely the winner of the Corey Anderson-Jan Blachowicz rematch that takes place this weekend, but the champion has also intimated he may finally want to make a run at heavyweight after years of fans wanting him to do so. Or, Jones says he’d be happy to give Reyes another chance to prove the judges wrong.

Whether it’s next or down the line, it seems inevitable that Jon Jones and Dominick Reyes have not seen the last of each other.

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MUST-READ STORIES

Vacant. Welterweight champion Douglas Lima faces Gegard Mousasi for vacant middleweight title at Bellator 243.

Interesting. Manny Pacquiao signs with Conor McGregor’s management firm.

Rematch. Jon Jones’ coach confident in champ’s victory over Dominick Reyes, welcomes chance to prepare for rematch.

USADA. Michel Prazeres accepts two-year USADA sanction after testing positive for anabolic agent.

Curious. UFC 247 medical suspensions: Champ Valentina Shevchenko among longest terms.

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VIDEO STEW

UFC 247 Fight Motion.

Every slam finish in UFC history. I love that this video starts with Dominick Cruz’s call at the start of this video will never not be hilarious to me.

Diego Sanchez’s TUF 1 highlights, 15 years later.

UFC 249 preview.

Corey Anderson on TMZ.

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LISTEN UP

Eurobash. Interviews with Valentina Shevchenko, Leah McCourt, Nathaniel Wood, and Ross Houston.

UFC Unfiltered. Interviews with Anthony Smith and Trevin Giles.

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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Before Jon went all in on defending himself.

Shade.

Ruthless.

Two years. That’s genuinely f*cking incredible.

Welcoming. . .

Poirier quickly letting go of the Nate fight idea.

Let go.

Bullet has gone from being a Black Ops operative to a cartoon secret agent. In like two years she’ll be an actual Bond girl/villian.

I could watch this 500 times.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Joe McColgan (6-2-1) vs. Rafael Macedo (10-4-1); Cage Warriors, March 20.

Gegard Mousasi (46-7-2) vs. Douglas Lima (32-7); Bellator 243, May 9.

Bethe Correia (11-4-1) vs. Pannie Kianzad (12-5); UFC 250, May 9.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

A number of people have already pointed this out but if Lima wins the Bellator middleweight title, three men will hold all the male belts in Bellator. That’s pretty wild.

Thanks for reading and see y’all tomorrow.

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EXIT POLL

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