UFC 247 Jones vs Reyes

NEVER LEAVE IT TO THE JUDGES

What a great card all around. There were several great battles throughout the evening but the draw was definitely the main and co-main events. As the early prelims started off it was quickly identified that the long standing issues with Judging MMA events continues. After fans watched the fight between Jonathan Martinez and Andre Ewell and After Martinez (11-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC) clearly won two – if not all three – rounds, the fight was scored 28-29, 29-28, 30-27 in favor of Ewell. According to commentary by Joe Rogan and company “They watched a robbery”. Throughout the night at least one Judge was witnessed not even watching the fight. That is a neat trick and begs the question, how do you score an event that you are not watching??? Another, issue is the quality and expertise of the judges. The Judges “working”at UFC 247 were mostly boxing judges which means they are most likely looking more at punches being thrown than grappling or kicks. The judges may not understand fully what they are looking at or how to score an MMA event. This leads me to the question, when are we going to see judges who are qualified to judge an MMA event? This brings us back the old saying in combat sports “ never leave it to the judges ”. I would also like to see the unified rules of MMA, which are currently in state control and can differ a bit from state to state. This was the case at UFC 247 as we were subject to the old rules since the Texas athletic commission has yet to adopt the new rules. 

MIAN & CO-MAIN EVENTS

 Valentina Shevchenko vs. Katlyn Chookagian

Women’s flyweight champ Valentina Shevchenko (18-3 MMA, 7-2 UFC) is a massive favorite of as much as 16-1 against Katlyn Chookagian (13-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC). If Chookagian would have won, it would have arguably been the biggest upset in UFC history. From the opening bell Shevchenko came out looking very controlled and calculated. Shevchenko is one of the most technical fighters in the world known for her extremely high muay thaiskill she has developed an amazing ground game. Shevchenko took the fight to the ground a few times during the fight where Chookagian was dominated. This was definite a one sided fight as Shevchenko seems to have a near perfect striking game the speed, accuracy and power being unmatched in her division at the moment. The fight ended early in the third round with the Champion landing 10 unanswered punches before the referee in charge halted the fight. 

 Jon Jones vs. Dominick Reyes

As far as the Light heavyweight championship fight goes, Jon Jones (25-1 MMA, 19-1 UFC) puts his title on the line against unbeaten challenger Dominick Reyes (12-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC). This was a great fight as well. Dominick Reyes came right out and set an awesome pace and controlled the pace early knocking Jones down in the first round. Jon could not get much done in the first round which was also the case in the second. The third round Jon was able to start to be slightly more effective with a takedown attempt but even more impressive was Reyes’s ability to stuff the takedown and get back to his feet. The fourth and fifth rounds were very close as both athletes traded the back and forth. Is this the Jon Bones Jones of old? 

 As the fight went the full five rounds even the commentators did not hold back on expressing their fears of leaving this to the judges. “It is hard to think of this Championship fight being in the hands of these judges”(Dominick Cruse), “It is downright scary” (Joe Rogan). Rogan and Cruse put veteran combat sports judge Joe Solis on a serious blast prior and after the announcement for earlier scorecards that were called into question, “He sure have his judges credential taken away”.

 Just to put it in perspective, his last three fights have gone the distance so you decide. This fight ended with a unanimous decision in Jon Jones favor allowing him to retain the light heavyweight championship title. One veteran combat sports judge Joe Solis somehow scored the fight 49-46 for Jones. That means the champion won four of the five rounds, which is insane to me after watching the fight. For many of us who have followed the sport for years it is a tough scorecard to believe. I scored the fight with Reyes winning 3 or the 5 rounds but what do I know. One last thing; “NEVER LEAVE IT TO THE JUDGES”

Steve Dee