Rewatch Jon Jones vs Dominick Reyes

[HHJ]

Close fight, but I really see Jones winning that one. Reyes fought like a ***** in the 5th round. You can't defeat the champion like that.

What the fuck are you talking about? Your supposed to write your scores after the round ends. You don't get to change your mind cos the 5th rd was different.

Reyes 123 puta

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

GSP had Hendricks. Jon had Reyes... Sh*t happens.

 

[GreatSaintGuillotine]

Not gonna echo what many have said already. Fight comes down to how you score that 3rd round. Results are what they are but I think the fight was a lot closer than either side would care to admit. Belt could have easily changed hands that nights

 

[GreatSaintGuillotine]

Jones haters can’t see his fights straight.

Jon ended the fight very strong. He had a terrible start. I think both sides fail to acknowledge portions of the fight. It was genuinely close. Comes down to that 3rd round

 

[checktheknuckles]

Was this the fight where the official score cards were written in pencil for the first 2 rounds, and then printed for the last 3? One of Jon's fights was like this. Plus we all know how corrupt judges are in the UFC and in the judicial system, so no surprise here really.

 

[maximus__]

MMA striking is not Olympic boxing. The goal is not to land as many strikes as possible, but to do as much damage as possible to make progress towards a finish. Watch the replay between rounds 1 and 2. None of the Reyes highlight strikes did any damage; they were a combination of slaps, grazes, near misses, and a soft counter that caught Jones off balance and had no follow-up. Reyes had exactly one damaging strike during the round, a left leg body shot that landed hard just below Jones' guard. Jones had 3 or 4 similarly damaging strikes in the round. Reyes was mostly gassing himself with high volume. Same goes for round 2. Reyes did much better in round 3, doing some real damage and clearly taking the round.

As for the last two rounds, Reyes had a good flurry at the start of round 4, then, for the rest of the fight, he was gassed and fighting in survival mode, just trying not to get finished. Reyes didn't really contest round 4 or 5 at all.

Reyes rope-a-doped himself in rounds 1 and 2, took round 3, and survived rounds 4 and 5 with 9 minutes and 30 seconds of no offense to finish the fight.

I used to think that was a close fight, but my MMA knowledge has gotten much better over the years and, looking back at it now, this was not close. 49-46 Jones.

Why are you making up scoring criteria that didn't exist at that time?

Reyes won a clear 3-2 decision by outstriking and being the aggressor for the first 3 rounds. Jones was visibly on the back foot and didn't land any real offence until the final two rounds.
Reyes wins even clearer under today's criteria.

Clear 3-2 Reyes any day of the week.

 

[Dr Guildo]

Jon Jones should be happy he is even relevant in MMA anymore. Ducking, PED'ing, suspending himself, these "losses", fighting not even once a year, get moved up to HW to wrestle kickboxer Gane.

Holding up HW-division for years and propbably not showing up there anymore. Jon Jones seriously could have done some stuff in this game if he did actually fight and not going rogue 50% of the time.

 

[Neck&Neck]

Heyes will be back and 4 real after he knocks out Jacoby next month!!
The real reason Bones is hetiring

 

[maximus__]

Yeah best to forget about it Marko, this fight was so long ago now.. what I think they should have done is an immediate rematch, thats where the issue is, it was so close and controversial, many people thought Reyes won, many people thought Jones won and many people thought it was a Draw. There should have been a rematch straight away

I personally honestly thought the fight was very close and I was unsure, I thought it could be a draw. Reyes won rounds 1 and 3 for certain, and Jones won rounds 4 and 5 for certain... the 2nd round was too close though, I think Reyes threw more strikes in that round but a lot of them didn't land. But Jones didn't land lots either in that round.

The thing with judging is its so subjective, and also when you rewatch fights again years later there is stuff you missed and then your score changes. That happened with me with the Edgar vs Maynard fight... when I watched it live I had it clearly for Maynard, but judges gave a draw.... then when I watched it years later there was sooooooo many punches Edgar landed that I never really saw the first time

Scoring isn't subjective at all. There is clear criteria in place to guide the way a bout is scored. Fights become controversial when that criteria is not used.

Reyes clearly outstruck Jones for 3 rounds, the majority of Jones offence in those first 3 rounds was his little jab leg kicks.

Jones was unable to secure takedowns, was outstruck for the first 3 rounds and still somehow won the fight whilst retreating the majority of those rounds.
It's used as an example of incorrect scoring for judges. That card had a heap of issues in terms of judging. That was the one with Krause and Giles, with the Judge switching a clear 1st and 3rd round somehow and being linked to Giles camp.

 

[pick999]

And yet dj "lost" his belt to henry who dj outstruck the fight but didn't get the ufc champion favor

 

[mangokush]

One of the biggest robberies in MMA history

 

[whocares]

It never bothered me that Jones got gifted this decision. When you're such a dominant champion, you're bound to get the benefit of the doubt on rounds you lost. That's called the residue of success, or shit runs downhill. Frankly it's Reyes fault for not clearly winning every round, not sure what he was thinking tbh.

 

[GreenGorilla]

I honestly think it comes down to how you score the second round. I rewatched that round some time ago on 0,25 speed and a lot of the punches Reyes throws during the initial flurry dont hit but it is a better visual.

Would have to rewatch but on rewatch I thought Jones won it, cause I score Legkicks. Then again watching live I actually thought Reyes won the fight.

But it is fucking 4 years ago already, time flies fuck me.

 

[Bork Neslar]

Heyes should have used more kicks to the knee.

 

[BowserJr]

Reyes ate his lunch.

Won the 1st 3 dominantly. Had Jones looking like he was in trouble and feeling the shots.

Jones won the last 2 and never looked like he was kicking ass. Just winning a round or 2 that's it.

The best part is Reyes is/was green and is getting KOed left & right

 

[STRAWBOSS]

there's no ending the debate here but I can honestly say that when I watched the fight live I thought Reyes won but on the rewatch I give it to Jones because in round two Reyes misses a lot of strikes. I am sure people more invested in this will have a better explanation in terms of scorecards and post fight analysis but that's what it looks like to me and trash the hilarious live commentators all you want but that's what they are saying as well. you can see this live in the replay.

Yes, Reyes had Jones "on the run" but he is not landing most of those and while Reyes is pressing the pace Jon is holding the center of the octagon and mostly stalking.

this goes against conventional wisdom or whatever and I don't give a fuck. The significant strike tabulation in my mind is incorrect for round two in terms of what actually lands. Watch it carefully or fucket because nobody's mind can be changed, I am not interested in debating, and also nobody gives a fuck lol

 

[DecisionSplit]

Reyes ate his lunch.

Won the 1st 3 dominantly. Had Jones looking like he was in trouble and feeling the shots.

Jones was never really in trouble. Garbrandt was smacking Dillashaw around and nearly knocked him out then lost. Costa almost put Whittaker out then lost when Whittaker came back the next two rounds. Adesanya nearly had Pereira at the end of one round then lost it later. Overeem floored Stipe with a jab then was out cold a minute later himself. Those were times where someone was close to being finished then came back and won. There are tons of examples of guys almost being finished then turning things around for a victory.

Reyes was never close to finishing Jones. He never really rocked him. Nor was close to submitting him. Been more than a year since I watched the fight but I don't remember either of them being close to a stoppage. It was point fighting from both with Jones doing takedowns to score more points.

there's no ending the debate here but I can honestly say that when I watched the fight live I thought Reyes won but on the rewatch I give it to Jones because in round two Reyes misses a lot of strikes.

This is how almost everyone saw it. Reyes was winning live. Tons of outrage at the decision. Next few years people go back and watch the fight again and change their opinions. At the time it was the end of the world. Looking back it was not a bad decision by the judges.

 

[Croton]

I don’t get ppl that acts like it was a robbery. After rewatch I thought it was pretty clearly Jones W.

1 was very close, slightly lean towards Reyes but could of went either way

2 was also close, but I felt Jones won

3 was the only round I felt confident for Reyes

4/5 were easily Jones

This is how I felt on re-watching the fight right now. Most of Reyes' big moments and flurries in rd 1 and 2 either missed or were blocked. Playing close attention I definitely can see round 2 going to Jones.

 

[maximus__]

Jones was never really in trouble. Garbrandt was smacking Dillashaw around and nearly knocked him out then lost. Costa almost put Whittaker out then lost when Whittaker came back the next two rounds. Adesanya nearly had Pereira at the end of one round then lost it later. Overeem floored Stipe with a jab then was out cold a minute later himself. Those were times where someone was close to being finished then came back and won. There are tons of examples of guys almost being finished then turning things around for a victory.

Reyes was never close to finishing Jones. He never really rocked him. Nor was close to submitting him. Been more than a year since I watched the fight but I don't remember either of them being close to a stoppage. It was point fighting from both with Jones doing takedowns to score more points.

This is how almost everyone saw it. Reyes was winning live. Tons of outrage at the decision. Next few years people go back and watch the fight again and change their opinions. At the time it was the end of the world. Looking back it was not a bad decision by the judges.

Defence doesn't score in MMA. Blocking and slipping shots would be worth mentioning if Reyes hadn't still outstruck him. The end result is Reyes was more offensive, landed more and his striking was impacting Jones who had to continually defend. It's within the definition of effective striking that he was winning those close rounds. It's different if we had big moments with people being dropped or near finshed , but the reality is Jones lost 3 closer rounds and then had two dominant rounds. 3-2 Reyes is the correct score.

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

*Edit* I find it weird how much the narrative has spun around trying to convince everyone Jones could have won this fight. At the time right after, everyone said the certain Reyes round was 1, but couldn't agree if it was round 2 or 3 that Jones had to steal, but the majority landed on 3 being the Jones round

Now? No, it couldn't be 3. 3 was actually Reyes' best round. But 1's suddenly not looking so hot for Dom anymore.

Literally in this thread:

-[Jon took] rounds 1 and 2

-1 was very close, 2 was also close, but I felt Jones won. 3 was the only round I felt confident for Reyes



-Reyes won rounds 1 and 3 for certain... the 2nd round was too close though

-I honestly think it comes down to how you score the second round.



-Jones won [round] 3

-Fight comes down to how you score that 3rd round


See, almost any other robbery i can remember, there's a pretty big consensus on what round would make it NOT a robbery. So when people not only can't agree what round cinches it for Jon, but even go on to say each other are wrong because those are rounds you  can't give Jon, then I'm sorry but it just looks from the outside as a whole like full-on desperate scrambling.