UFC light-heavyweight belt after holding off Dominick Reyes

Houston: Jon Jones retained his UFC light-heavyweight belt after holding off Dominick Reyes at UFC 247 on Saturday night.

The unanimous decision of 48-47, 48-47, 49-46 was met with scattered applause and loud boos from the crowd in Houston, with Jones overcoming an early scare from his opponent to hold the record for most championship wins in UFC.

Jones (26-1-1) handed the fourth-ranked Reyes (12-1) his first loss, improving to 15-0 in title fights.

But there had been disbelief when one judge, who had last presided over a UFC fight in 2017, scored the bout 4-1 in Jones' favour.

After his record-breaking triumph, Jones said: “Dominick did a tremendous job and you have totally earned my respect.

“It was a really close fight but I turned it around in the fifth round.

“That fifth-round won me the fight, those takedowns won me the fight and I totally believe in my heart I won the fight.

“To become part of UFC history in this way, I wouldn't want it easy. It's an incredibly hard thing I did tonight.'

Reyes came out on the attack in the first round, briefly knocking Jones to the ground less than two minutes into the bout.

Jones then bounced back in the second round, landing several strong hooks to Reyes' head.

In the third round, Reyes landed blows to Jones' head, and he then drew blood early in the fourth round.

Jones ramped up his attack in the bout's final stages, but Reyes seemed to keep enough separation from the champion for a judges' decision.

In the co-main event of UFC 247, flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko defended her title against Katlyn Chookagian, stopping the challenger in the third round.

The Kyrgyzstan-native Shevchenko (19-3) won her fifth bout in a row, fending off Pennsylvania-native Chookagian (13-3), who entered as the top-ranked contender for the belt. Agencies

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