Plenty of things can happen in the world of MMA in seven days.
From event announcements and the fights on the weekend to the best tweets and latest trash talk between fighters, we’ll keep you in the know at the end of each week with the latest happenings in the sport.
But first off, make sure you read issue 139 of Fighters Only Magazine! It’s now available on all good newsstands and on the Fighters Only app, featuring the likes of Tony Ferguson, Corey Anderson, Douglas Lima, Josh Barnett and more.
MMA News
UFC 247: Jon Jones retains UFC light heavyweight championship against Dominick Reyes, but under controversial circumstances
With his 14th win in a title fight setting, UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones broke a record at UFC 247.
However, his last victory over Dominick Reyes wasn’t without controversy.
Many believed the challenger had done enough to snatch Jones’ gold from his grasp but the judges sat cageside disagreed.
Reyes valiantly brought the fight to Jones like few had before him, out-striking the Jackson-Wink fighter in each of the first three rounds.
Jones remained composed and came on strong in the fourth and fifth rounds to close out the fight as Reyes visibly tired, but many fans, pundits and fellow fighters thought Reyes should have got his arm raised.
From our Twitter poll, 66.4% of the 429 people voting thought Reyes was left short-changed in Houston.
UFC 247: Valentina Shevchenko easily dispatched Katlyn Chookagian to defend her title
I feel comfortable in saying we’re going to be seeing Kyrgyzstan’s Valentina Shevchenko lifting UFC women’s flyweight gold for the foreseeable future.
“Bullet” made light work of challenger Katlyn Chookagian at UFC 247, handing her opponent the first stoppage loss of her career.
Shevchenko dictated the fight wherever it went. Though, her striking looked particularly on-point, shutting up any dissenters after her “timid” performance against Liz Carmouche last time in the Octagon.
This was exemplified by her stunning wheel kick which caught Chookagian flush on the jaw.
But it was Shevchenko’s underrated ground game which nabbed her third successful title defence.
After taking Chookagian down to the mat in the third round, Shevchenko secured a tight mounted crucifix which allowed her to rain down blows on her defenceless foe, forcing the fight’s finish.
Impressive stuff.
UFC 247: Joe Rogan calls out judge well before main event
Joe Rogan calling out judges for not watching the fight for 30 seconds. This is bad. That’s a problem. I’m sure it happened in the main event too. #UFC247 pic.twitter.com/1Qtgk6Jb3U
— ScodaEnterprises32 (@ScottyStyles29) February 9, 2020
The Jones – Reyes fight wasn’t the only one to have fallen foul of the judges appointed to UFC 247 in Houston, Texas.
During the fight between Lauren Murphy and Andrea Lee, UFC commentator Joe Rogan noticed a judge who wasn’t watching the fight.
Murphy went on to win a decision which many thought should have went the other way.
MMA moves one step closer in France
Us MMA writers received a rather intriguing email from the UFC at around 3pm GMT here in the United Kingdom.
The promotion released a statement regarding the French Boxing Federation overseeing MMA regulation in the country – a major step in the right direction for the sport in France.
As someone who has written about MMA’s struggles in l’Hexagone, which have largely been due to the draconian opinions and actions of the all-powerful French Judo Federation, this is good news even if there are more steps to take.
France is bubbling with young, up-and-coming MMA talent. Regulated, professional MMA in the country could prove massive.
Best MMA Social Media of the Week
Isreal Adesanya
Sometimes all you need to say is an old social media acronym.
UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, who has plenty of verbal sparring matches with Jon Jones online, seemed to find the funny side of Jones’ controversial win at UFC 247.
Israel Adesanya and Yoel Romero [via Jed I. Goodman]
The UFC’s next big pay-per-view event sees the aforementioned Adesanya defend his title against Cuba’s Yoel Romero in Las Vegas.
After their pre-fight press conference, the pair traded dance moves on stage. Trust Romero to take things too far…
Roxanne Modafferi
There can’t be many UFC women’s flyweights who are lining up to take on Valentina Shevchenko, but Team Syndicate duo Roxanne Modafferi and Joanne Calderwood would have watched the fight on Saturday night with a keen eye.
Here they are reveling in their current ranking spots in the division.
Claressa Shields
https://twitter.com/Claressashields/status/1225841697764061185
Top boxer Claressa Shields has been making some noise about trading the ring for a cage and MMA rules in the near future.
Here’s a video of her training and the post reiterates her desire to cross over to mixed martial arts.
