The UFC is back in Houston this week with a pair of title fights featuring dominant champions atop the card.
UFC 247 takes place Saturday at Toyota Center in Houston. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.
In the main event, light heavyweight champion [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] (25-1 MMA, 19-1 UFC) puts his title on the line against unbeaten challenger [autotag]Dominick Reyes[/autotag] (12-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC). Jones is a fairly heavy favorite from the oddsmakers in the fight at as much as 5-1. Not surprisingly, he has a big 11-3 lead in the picks from our 14 MMA Junkie editors, writers, radio hosts and videographers.
In the co-main event, women’s flyweight champ [autotag]Valentina Shevchenko[/autotag] (18-3 MMA, 7-2 UFC) is a massive favorite of as much as 16-1 against [autotag]Katlyn Chookagian[/autotag] (13-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC), so it should come as little surprise that she is one of our two unanimous picks on the main card at 14-0.
The other unanimous pick is Houston resident [autotag]Derrick Lewis[/autotag] (22-7 MMA, 13-5 UFC) in a heavyweight home fight against [autotag]Ilir Latifi[/autotag] (14-7 MMA, 7-5 UFC). Lewis is more than a 2-1 favorite, has never lost in Texas in his career, and is a 14-0 pick.
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Also on the main card, [autotag]Juan Adams[/autotag] (5-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC) is more than a 2-1 favorite in his heavyweight fight against [autotag]Justin Tafa[/autotag] (3-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC), and he’s got a big 11-3 advantage in the picks.
And even though [autotag]Mirsad Bektic[/autotag] (13-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) is a small favorite in his featherweight fight against [autotag]Dan Ige[/autotag] (12-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC), it’s Ige who has a big 11-3 lead in the picks with most of our staff members thinking mild upset – even though our readers give Bektic the slight advantage.
In the MMA Junkie reader consensus picks, Jones (71 percent), Shevchenko (90 percent), Adams (63 percent), Bektic (53 percent) and Lewis (86 percent) are the choices.
Check out the faceoffs from UFC 247 media day, which featured Jon Jones, Dominick Reyes, Valentina Shevchenko, Katly Chookagian, and more.
HOUSTON – As we inch closer to UFC 247, the top fighters on the card inched closer to each other literally on Thursday.
The main-card fighters, as well as some of the prelim combatants, took part in UFC 247 media day at the host hotel. Before and after talking to reporters, the athletes faced off ahead of Friday’s weigh-ins and the Saturday’s event.
UFC light heavyweight champion [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] meets [autotag]Dominick Reyes[/autotag] in the main event, while women’s flyweight champ [autotag]Valentina Shevchenko[/autotag] takes on [autotag]Katlyn Chookagian[/autotag] in the co-main event.
The rest of the main card includes [autotag]Juan Adams[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Justin Tafa[/autotag] at heavyweight, [autotag]Mirsad Bektic[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Dan Ige[/autotag] at featherweight, and [autotag]Derrick Lewis[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Ilir Latifi[/autotag] at heavyweight.
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Check out the faceoffs from those fighters in the videos above ahead of UFC 247, which takes place Saturday at Toyota Center. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass.
Ilir Latifi is certainly enjoying life as a heavyweight, but he’s not ruling out a move back down to 205 pounds.
HOUSTON – [autotag]Ilir Latifi[/autotag] is certainly enjoying life as a heavyweight, but he’s not ruling out a move back down to 205 pounds, either.
Latifi (14-7 MMA, 7-5 UFC) will make his heavyweight debut Saturday against Derrick Lewis at UFC 247. And while fight week has been a lot easier to deal with without having to cut weight, Latifi didn’t definitively say that solely heavyweight is his future.
“Right now this is where I feel comfortable fighting, in heavyweight, but you never know in the future,” Latifi said at the UFC 247 athlete panel held Wednesday. “Maybe I’ll go down again, so I’m open to fighting in both divisions.
“I cut around 35 pounds, so it was pretty big weight cuts, and I’ve done that enough. It’s pretty nice coming into fight week and being able to eat good food and stuff. I’m not used to that, and it’s very different.”
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At one point, Latifi was a rising star in the light heavyweight division, having won five of six fights. But after dropping his last two in a row to Corey Anderson and Volkan Oezdemir, he decided to make the move up.
He enters Saturday’s fight with Lewis as the betting underdog, a role that he’s learned to relish.
“To be honest, I’ve been an underdog all my life,” Latifi said. “Since I started in the UFC, I started fighting in the 205 division, everybody thought I was too small for that weight, and everyone was saying go down to 185, and I proved a lot of people wrong. Saturday let’s see, and now I went up to the heavyweight division, and I’m fighting a tough opponent, but I love the challenge and have no problem being the underdog.”
He continued, “Of course it’s a different kind of way, fighting 205 to heavyweight. You just have to adapt in the right way, so you don’t miss the positive things from fighting at light heavyweight. Of course my speed is something that I’m going to use in the heavyweight division, so putting on too much weight isn’t good either. It’s a hard balance, and it’s something that you have to find a good way to balance.”
UFC 247 takes place Saturday at Toyota Center. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.
Derrick Lewis is undefeated in his home state of Texas, and he plans on keeping it that way.
HOUSTON – [autotag]Derrick Lewis[/autotag] is undefeated in his home state of Texas, and he plans on keeping it that way.
Lewis (22-7 MMA, 13-5 UFC) faces [autotag]Ilir Latifi[/autotag] this Saturday at UFC 247 and is looking to put on a show for his hometown fans.
“I’m going to look for the knockout in the first round,” Lewis said at the UFC 247 athlete panel held Wednesday. “I have to put on for Houston. We’ve been through a lot with the flooding and all that, so I got to come in swinging and banging in the first round.”
Lewis has made it a habit of scoring late finishes, with two of his recent “Performance of the Night” comeback knockouts over Marcin Tybura and Alexander Volkov coming late in the third round.
“Just let the fight unfold,” Lewis said. “I’m going to fight the same like I do any other fight. Everybody know if I’m not going to get him out of there in the first round, I get him out of there in the last two seconds of the fight.”
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Latifi (14-7 MMA, 7-5 UFC) is moving up from light heavyweight and will pose an interesting short and stocky frame for the division.
But it’s all the same for Lewis.
“He’s a little guy. Just about everybody in the division is up and down, so it don’t matter,” Lewis said. “We all the same size when we lay down, so I’m pretty sure he’s going to try and take me down.”
UFC 247 takes place Saturday at Toyota Center. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.
MMA Junkie senior editor Dave Doyle takes you through the key storylines heading into UFC 247.
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The UFC returns to action Saturday night with its second pay-per-view offering of 2020, as the octagon heads to Houston for UFC 247.
On the surface, the card appears to be headlined by a pair of “showcase” title fights, with underdog upstarts gunning for gold.
[autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag], who is on any reasonable person’s short list of the sport’s GOAT candidates, defends his light heavyweight title against undefeated [autotag]Dominick Reyes[/autotag]. Meanwhile, [autotag]Valentina Shevchenko[/autotag], who is No. 2 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie women’s pound-for-pound rankings, puts her flyweight title up for grabs against [autotag]Katlyn Chookagian[/autotag].
Both champions are heavy favorites. But then, faster than you can say “Matt Serra,” you remember strange things seem to happen in H-town, and the night becomes a little bit more intriguing.
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UFC 247 takes place Saturday at Toyota Center with the main card on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.
Without further ado, here are six burning questions heading into UFC 247.
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How does Jon Jones respond to his last outing?
Jon Jones (red gloves) and Thiago Santos at UFC 239. (Stephen R. Sylvanie, USA TODAY Sports)
It’s a testament to just how dominant Jones (25-1 MMA, 19-1 UFC) has been as light heavyweight champion that a rare non-dominant performance causes you to wonder what’s up.
But it’s hard not to take a look back at his last fight and wonder whether it will affect him going forward.
Thiago Santos threw everything but the kitchen sink at Jones last July, wrecking both of his legs but still pressing forward for 25 minutes. It took all of Jones’ tenacity to eke out a split decision victory.
If you’ve been watching this sport long enough, you remember how Fedor Emelianenko, on his 10-year winning streak, struggled before putting away Brett Rogers, and how the intellgentsia scoffed when anyone suggested this might mean anything going forward. And then Emelianenko went out and lost his next three fights.
Maybe, as heretical as it might sound, the Santos fight indicated things are finally starting to catch up to Jones. Or maybe a competitor with the style of Reyes (12-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) is just the type of fight to remind fans what Jones — who has scored only one official finish in nearly seven years, to go with six decisions and a no-contest — is capable of doing when he unleashes the beast.
The best facts and figures about UFC 247, which features a Jon Jones vs. Dominick Reyes title-fight main event.
UFC action resumes Saturday with UFC 247, which takes place at Toyota Center in Houston with a main card that airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass.
A championship doubleheader sits atop the card. In the main event, [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] (25-1 MMA, 19-1 UFC) puts his light heavyweight title on the line against [autotag]Dominick Reyes[/autotag] (12-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC). The co-headliner sees women’s flyweight champ [autotag]Valentina Shevchenko[/autotag] (18-3 MMA, 7-2 UFC) meet [autotag]Katlyn Chookagian[/autotag] (13-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC).
For more on the numbers behind those title fights, as well as the rest of the 12-bout lineup, check below for 50 pre-event facts about UFC 247.
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Main event
Jones owns or is on the verge of owning numerous key UFC records. Check out his complete stat sheet to see where he stands in company history.
Reyes’ six-fight UFC winning streak at light heavyweight is the longest active streak in the division.
Reyes has earned nine of his 12 career victories by first-round stoppage.
Reyes lands 5.03 significant strikes per minute in UFC light heavyweight competition, the third rate among active fighters in the weight class behind Ion Cutelaba (5.27) and Aleksander Rakic (5.17).
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Reyes outlands his opponents by a +2.79 margin in significant strikes per minute, the second best rate in divisional history behind Alessio Sakara (3.24).
Reyes’ 29-second knockout of Joachim Christensen are UFC Fight Night 112 marked the second fastest stoppage by any debuting light-heavyweight in UFC history behind Ryan Jimmo’s seven-second win at UFC 149.
Reyes defends 84 percent of all opponent takedown attempts in UFC light heavyweight competition, the second highest rate among active fighters in the weight class behind Jones (95 percent).
Co-main event
Shevchenko is one of two women’s flyweight champions in UFC history. Nicco Montano also accomplished the feat.
Shevchenko’s two consecutive UFC women’s flyweight title defenses are most in divisional history.
Shevchenko is one of seven fighters in history to end a UFC title fight with a knockout stemming from a head kick. She accomplished the feat at UFC 238. Amanda Nunes, Georges St-Pierre, Anderson Silva, Renan Barao, Holly Holm and T.J. Dillashaw are the others.
Shevchenko is 4-0 since she dropped to the UFC flyweight division in February 2018.
Shevchenko’s four-fight UFC winning streak at women’s flyweight is the longest active streak in the division.
Shevchenko’s four victories in UFC women’s flyweight competition are tied with four others for most in divisional history.
Shevchenko has completed at least one takedown against eight of her nine UFC opponents.
Shevchenko and Liz Carmouche combined for 60 significant strikes landed at UFC on ESPN+ 14, the third fewest in a modern-era UFC title fight that went all five rounds. Only Sean Sherk vs. Hermes Franca (41) and Demetrious Johnson vs. Tim Elliott (52) had less.
Shevchenko outlanded Priscila Cachoeira 230-3 in total strikes at UFC Fight Night 125, the largest disparity in UFC women’s history.
Shevchenko’s two fight-night bonuses for UFC women’s flyweight bouts are most in divisional history.
Shevchenko has suffered both of her UFC losses to women’s bantamweight and featherweight champ Nunes.
Chookagian competes in her sixth UFC women’s flyweight bout, tied with Gillian Robertson and Roxanne Modafferi for most appearances in divisional history.
Chookagian is to 4-1 since she dropped to the UFC flyweight division in January 2018.
Chookagian’s four victories in UFC women’s flyweight competition are tied with Valentina Shevchenko, Joanne Calderwood and Gillian Robertson for most in divisional history.
Chookagian has earned 10 of her 13 career victories by decision. That includes all six of her UFC wins.
Chookagian defends 63.6 percent of all opponent significant strike attempts in UFC women’s flyweight competition, the best rate in divisional history.
Remaining main card
Juan Adams
[autotag]Juan Adams[/autotag] (5-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC) has suffered consecutive losses after starting his career on a five-fight winning streak.
[autotag]Mirsad Bektic[/autotag] (13-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) absorbs 1.70 significant strikes per minute in UFC featherweight competition, the second-best rate in divisional history behind Rani Yahya (1.05).
Bektic completes 53.1 of his takedown attempts in UFC featherweight competition, the third highest rate among active fighters in the weight class behind Zubaira Tukhugov (57.5 percent) and Zabit Magomedsharipov (56.3 percent).
Bektic has completed at least two takedowns against five of his seven UFC opponents.
[autotag]Dan Ige[/autotag]’s (12-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) four-fight UFC winning streak in featherweight competition is tied for the fourth longest active streak behind Arnold Allen (seven), Zabit Magomedsharipov (six) and Alexander Volkanovski (six).
Ige lands 50.6 of his significant strike attempts in UFC featherweight competition, the third best rate among active fighters in the weight class behind Volkanovski (56.3 percent) and Dooho Choi (51.2 percent).
Derrick Lewis
[autotag]Derrick Lewis[/autotag] (22-7 MMA, 13-5 UFC) makes his 19th UFC heavyweight appearance since 2014, the most in the division and second most fights on the roster behind Donald Cerrone (23).
Lewis’ 13 victories in UFC heavyweight competition are tied for fourth most in divisional history behind Andrei Arlovski (17), Frank Mir (16) and Junior Dos Santos (15).
Lewis’ 10 stoppage victories in UFC heavyweight competition are tied for fifth most in divisional history behind Mir (13), Arlovski (11), Gabriel Gonzaga (11) and Stefan Struve (11).
Lewis’ 10 knockout victories in UFC heavyweight competition are tied with Dos Santos and Cain Velasquez for most in divisional history.
Lewis’ 10 knockout victories in UFC competition since 2014 are second most among active fighters in the organization behind Thiago Santos (11).
Lewis’ six knockouts stemming from ground strikes in UFC competition are tied with Randy Couture for second most in company history behind Velasquez (eight).
Lewis is the only fighter in history to have his first eight UFC fights end in a knockout.
Lewis’ knockout of Alexander Volkov at UFC 229 despite a -82 significant strike differential marked the greatest statistical striking comeback in UFC history.
Lewis and Francis Ngannou combined for 31 total strikes landed at UFC 226, the second fewest in a three-round UFC fight that went the distance behind Jens Pulver vs. Joao Roque (23) at UFC 26 in June 2000.
Ilir Latifi
[autotag]Ilir Latifi[/autotag] (14-7 MMA, 7-5 UFC) moves up to the UFC heavyweight division after spending his first 12 promotional appearances at light heavyweight. His 12 light heavyweight bouts are the most for any fighter in UFC history
Latifi enters the event on the first losing skid of his career. He hasn’t earned a victory since February 2018.
Latifi is one of four light heavyweights in UFC history to earn two stoppage victories in less than one minute each. Volkan Oezdemir, Johnny Walker and Anthony Johnson also accomplished the feat.
Latifi’s fight vs. Cyrille Diabate at UFC Fight Night 37 marked the first fight in UFC history to feature zero combined significant strike attempts.
Preliminary card
Trevin Giles
[autotag]Trevin Giles[/autotag] (11-2 MMA, 2-2 UFC) has suffered consecutive losses after starting his career 11-0.
Giles is 1-2 since he dropped to the UFC middleweight division in December 2017.
[autotag]Lauren Murphy[/autotag] (11-4 MMA, 3-4 UFC), 36, is the oldest of the 24 fighters scheduled to compete at the event. Lauren Murphy is a single day older.
Murphy has alternated wins and losses over her past seven fights. She was victorious in her most recent bout at UFC on ESPN 5 in August.
Murphy is 2-1 since she dropped to the UFC flyweight division in December 2017.
Murphy is one of five female fighters in UFC history to earn a knockout stemming from a knee strike. She accomplished the feat at UFC on ESPN 5.
[autotag]Youssef Zalal[/autotag] (7-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC), 23, is the youngest of the 24 fighters scheduled to compete at the event.
UFC research analyst and live statistics producer Michael Carroll contributed to this story. Follow him on Twitter @MJCflipdascript.
Ahead of UFC 247 in Houston, you can watch a live video stream of a special athlete panel featuring six of the top fighters on the card.
HOUSTON – Ahead of Saturday’s UFC 247 in Houston, you can watch a live video stream of a special athlete panel featuring six of the top fighters on the card.
The athlete panel, hosted by UFC play-by-play voice Jon Anik, takes place at The Ballroom at Bayou Place at 500 Texas Ave. in Houston. The event is free and open to the public. Doors open to the public at 5 p.m. CT, and the panel is scheduled to start at 6 p.m.
Anik will talk to light heavyweight title challenger [autotag]Dominick Reyes[/autotag] (12-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC), women’s flyweight title challenger [autotag]Katlyn Chookagian[/autotag] (13-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) and heavyweight [autotag]Ilir Latifi[/autotag] (14-7 MMA, 7-5 UFC) first.
Then he’ll speak with light heavyweight champion [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] (25-1 MMA, 19-1 UFC), women’s flyweight champ [autotag]Valentina Shevchenko[/autotag] (18-3 MMA, 7-2 UFC) and Houston’s own [autotag]Derrick Lewis[/autotag] (22-7 MMA, 13-5 UFC) in the second session.
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UFC 247 takes place Saturday at Toyota Center in Houston. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.
Check out a video stream of the athlete panel above.
We want your predictions for UFC 247 in Houston, featuring Jon Jones-Dominick Reyes and Valentina Shevchenko-Katlyn Chookagian title fights.
We want your predictions for Saturday’s UFC 247 event in Houston.
Our staff picks feature includes the consensus picks from MMA Junkie readers. Simply cast your vote for each bout below, and we’ll use the official tallies that are registered by Thursday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT).
Those MMA Junkie reader consensus picks will be part of the UFC 247 event staff predictions we release Friday ahead of the event. UFC 247 takes place Saturday at Toyota Center in Houston. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.
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Make your picks for all five main card fights inside:
2019 Champion*
