Tag: UFC 247

Jon Jones wanted Stipe Miocic fight; ‘strong possibility’ of heavyweight move after UFC 247

Could Jon Jones finally move to heavyweight after UFC 247? He said it’s “absolutely” a real possibility.

Could [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] finally be making his move to the heavyweight division following his next UFC light heavyweight title defense against Dominick Reyes at UFC 247?

Jones (25-1 MMA, 19-1 UFC) said he was ready to pull the trigger for his first fight of 2020, so he definitely sees it on the horizon.

“I think it’s a very strong possibility,” Jones told reporters, including MMA Junkie, at Friday’s UFC 247 news conference in Las Vegas. “Absolutely. There’s always going to be someone next. I feel as though I’ve cleared the division and I’m not waiting around. I’m taking new challenges. I’m not sitting on the title. I’m not hiding from anybody. I chose Dominick because he appears to be the best out of all my contenders and I’m just ready to take over the world.”

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Jones will meet Reyes (12-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) in the main event of UFC 247, which takes place Feb. 8 at Toyota Center in Houston with a main card set to air on pay-per-view. It will be the third defense in the latest title reign for “Bones,” and one that could give him the UFC record for most championship fight victories (14).

At that point, it would seem fair for Jones to pursue some unique challenges. He said he was ready to do following his win over Thiago Santos at UFC 239 in July, as he claims to have pushed for a showdown with heavyweight king [autotag]Stipe Miocic[/autotag] after Miocic took the belt from Daniel Cormier at UFC 241 in August.

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According to Jones it didn’t materialize because of the UFC’s intent to make a trilogy bout between Miocic (19-3 MMA, 13-3 UFC) and Cormier, so that’s he he ended up fighting Reyes.

“I was trying to get a Stipe Miocic fight and I thought that maybe that would happen,” Jones said. “But instead we have Stipe vs. ‘DC’ 3. But at the moment I was so ready to go to heavyweight and stick my hands in some of those big fellas.”

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UFC 247 faceoff video: Lots of chatter between Jon Jones, Dominick Reyes in first staredown

The UFC 247 title-fight participants got a first look at each other as the on-sale press conference ended with faceoffs

LAS VEGAS – Promotional efforts for February’s UFC 247 kicked off today with tickets going on sale to the public and the key fighters participating in a press conference.

UFC light heavyweight champion [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] (25-1 MMA, 19-1 UFC) and top contender [autotag]Dominick Reyes[/autotag] (12-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC), who meet in the main event, were in attendance, as were women’s flyweight titleholder [autotag]Valentina Shevchenko[/autotag] (18-3 MMA, 7-2 UFC) and challenger [autotag]Katlyn Chookagian[/autotag] (13-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC), who clash in the co-headliner.

At the conclusion of the press conference, the fighters from the two title matchups came face-to-face for the first time ahead of the Feb. 8 event, which takes place at Toyota Center in Houston and airs on pay-per-view following prelims, likely to air on ESPN and stream on ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass.

Intensity was in the air, and there was lots of talk between the headliners, but everyone involved stayed professional. To see how it all unfolded, watch the video above to see the UFC 247 press conference faceoffs.

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Ovince Saint Preux vs. Ryan Spann canceled from UFC 247 in Houston

Both Ovince Saint Preux and Ryan Spann were looking to build off recent momentum – but they’ll have to wait.

[autotag]Ovince Saint Preux[/autotag] and [autotag]Ryan Spann[/autotag] won’t be fighting at UFC 247.

Both Saint Preux (24-13 MMA, 14-9 UFC) and Spann (17-5 MMA, 3-0 UFC) would have been looking to build off of momentum of recent victories, but they’ll have to wait. The matchup between the two light heavyweights scheduled for Feb. 8 in Houston has been canceled, a person with knowledge of the situation confirmed to MMA Junkie on Tuesday.

The exact reason for the fight cancellation isn’t known. However, the person, who asked for anonymity because the promotion hasn’t made an official announcement, informed MMA Junkie that no replacement will be sought for Saint Preux.

On Tuesday, Spann confirmed his removal on Instagram and indicated his next fight is already in the works for a different event.

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UFC 247 takes place at Toyota Center in Houston. The main card airs on pay-per-view, following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.

With the removal, the UFC 247 lineup now includes:

  • Champ Jon Jones vs. Dominick Reyes – for light heavyweight title
  • Champ Valentina Shevchenko vs. Katlyn Chookagian – for women’s flyweight title
  • Ilir Latifi vs. Derrick Lewis
  • Mirsad Bektic vs. Dan Ige
  • Andrea Lee vs. Lauren Murphy
  • Juan Adams vs. Justin Tafa
  • Dhiego Lima vs. Alex Morono
  • Jimmie Rivera vs. Marlon Vera

Jimmie Rivera vs. Marlon Vera in the works for UFC 247

Jimmie Rivera and Marlon Vera have some unsettled business to settle at UFC 247.

Thirty-two months after the fight was originally offered, a bout between [autotag]Jimmie Rivera[/autotag] and [autotag]Marlon Vera[/autotag] is in the works.

The bantamweight matchup between Rivera (22-4 MMA, 6-3 UFC) and Vera (15-5-1 MMA, 9-4 UFC) is targeted for UFC 247 on Feb. 8 in Houston, two people with knowledge of the situation informed MMA Junkie. The people asked to remain anonymous because the promotion has yet to make an announcement.

In January 2017, Vera was briefly linked to a fight against Rivera at UFC Fight Night 103. After Bryan Caraway pulled out of the event due to injury, Vera was aligned to step in.

However, Rivera declined the bout and cited Vera’s standing in the division. Rivera also said he didn’t want to hurt “Chito” or take money away from Vera’s daughter, who was struggling with health issues at the time.

In an October interview with MMA Junkie, Vera voiced his desire to finally fight Rivera. There’s some unsettled business there and Vera likes the stylistic matchup.

“I want Jimmie Rivera – I want to run this back,” Vera said. “I feel of all the ranked guys it’s the perfect fight. We were supposed to fight. The fight was announced. He pulled out with some dumb sort of excuse.

“I’m not mad or upset, but I want to fight. I feel like that’s the easiest fight, not because the guy is easy. It’s easy to get because we already were scheduled to fight before. We can run it back.”

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After winning five straight fights to kick off his UFC tenure, Rivera has been on a skid. The Tiger Schulmann’s product has dropped three of his past four fights. In June, Rivera dropped a unanimous decision to Petr Yan.

Vera is riding a lengthy winning streak entering UFC 247. Victorious in his past five, Vera has finished as many opponents. In his most recent outing at UFC on ESPN+ 19 in October, Vera finished Ewell with ground-and-pound in the third round.

With the addition, the UFC 247 lineup includes:

  • Champ Jon Jones vs. Dominick Reyes – for light heavyweight title
  • Champ Valentina Shevchenko vs. Katlyn Chookagian – for women’s flyweight title
  • Ilir Latifi vs. Derrick Lewis
  • Mirsad Bektic vs. Dan Ige
  • Ovince Saint Preux vs. Ryan Spann
  • Andrea Lee vs. Lauren Murphy
  • Juan Adams vs. Justin Tafa
  • Dhiego Lima vs. Alex Morono
  • Jimmie Rivera vs. Marlon Vera

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Volkan Oezdemir: Dominick Reyes presents different style for Jon Jones, but Jones still wins at UFC 247

Having already fought him before, Volkan Oezdemir doesn’t think Dominick Reyes will be the one to dethrone Jon Jones.

[autotag]Volkan Oezdemir[/autotag] is very familiar with the next UFC light heavyweight title challenger.

Oezdemir lost a controversial split decision to [autotag]Dominick Reyes[/autotag] in March. Reyes now is next in line for a title shot at UFC 205-pound champ Jon Jones at UFC 247 in February. Reyes handed Oezdemir his third straight loss at UFC London in a fight that Oezdemir is adamant he won.

Oezdemir thinks Reyes offers a different challenge for Jones, and considering the success Thiago Santos was able to have against the champ, he is intrigued to see what Reyes will be able to do.

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“He’s going to bring a different style to the Jon Jones puzzle,” Oezdemir told MMA Junkie. “Santos was really close to beating Jon Jones, plus he was on one leg, and one really wobbly leg. His leg was – what did he have? ACL tear and meniscus tear he got in the first round of the fight – and even with this, he posed a lot of problems to Jon Jones. So it might be interesting to see what Reyes can do.”

Nobody has been able to figure out the Jones puzzle completely, and while Santos gave a valiant effort, ultimately, it wasn’t enough. Jones has been able to win fights both on the feet and on the canvas, and Oezdemir thinks an opponent has to be able to pose numerous of threats to beat him.

But he doesn’t think Reyes will be the one to dethrone Jones.

“I think the thing now also with Jon Jones is, don’t come to the Jon Jones fight and be one-dimensional,” Oezdemir said. “You have to surprise him and do a lot of different stuff. If you come there and just be a striker, then Jones will have a perfect game plan against you. Let’s see what Reyes will offer to Jones. I still see Jon Jones winning the fight.”

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Dominick Reyes says one win won’t be enough against Jon Jones: ‘You have to beat him twice’

Dominick Reyes says he knows he’ll have to defeat Jon Jones not once, but twice, to cement his position as the UFC’s top 205-pounder.

[autotag]Dominick Reyes[/autotag] has worked his way up to the top of the light heavyweight ladder and is all set to challenge [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag] for the UFC’s 205-pound title.

But the California native admitted that that while he’s backing himself to be the man to dethrone Jones, he knows that one victory over Jones probably won’t be enough. He’ll need to beat him in a rematch, too.

“You can’t just beat Jon Jones one time,” he told Submission Radio. “He’s been champion since almost like the whole length of the UFC light heavyweight division. Regardless of however the fight goes down or whatever, (if) I win the fight, he deserves a rematch no matter what.

“It’s just not going to be enough. I beat Jon Jones and all of a sudden, ‘Oh, it’s a fluke. Oh no.’ Just like always. It’s a reality – it’s just not going to be enough. You can’t just beat Jon Jones one time. You have to beat him twice.”

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Those comments offer a glimpse into Reyes’ mindset heading into the contest, as he looks to break out of the shadows and prove to the world just how good he is. He thinks his skills haven’t yet been fully acknowledged,  either by the fans or by the UFC, which he thinks wanted Chris Weidman to be the next to challenge Jones.

Reyes said he was a little irked by what he thought was a concerted push by the UFC to position the former middleweight champion for a possible shot at Jones, and spoke of his satisfaction of halting those supposed plans with his first-round finish of Weidman at UFC on ESPN 6 in Boston in October.

“I knew it – I knew it the whole time,” he said. “I was like, ‘All right, it’s cool, keep underestimating me. All right, that’s fine. See what happens to your boy. Watch what happens to your boy and then talk to me after the fight.’ That’s how I felt about that one.

“I knew the stakes. I knew what I was in for, and I knew what he brought to the table – and I knew I was better, so I agreed to the fight. And as they started to hype up Chris and Jon, the whole deal, I was like, ‘All right, I see you. Watch.

“It was like, ‘Watch this, and then you’ll really know the truth.’ So, for me it was just like a little more fire, ’cause nobody likes to be disrespected, especially fighters – especially myself. And when you feel like you are kind of being disrespected, that adds a little bit more.”

The victory pushed Reyes into the top contender’s spot for a shot at Jones at UFC 247 on Feb. 8, and kicked off the back-and-forth between the two fighters. Reyes said Jones’ attempts to wind him up came across as a little immature to him.

“His trash talk is brother trash talk,” he explained. “I have brothers, he has brothers. You know when you have a bunch of brothers and you guys are all around and it’s competition there constantly? It’s little jabs, it’s little shots about their biggest insecurities just to mess with them and get them mad, and then they do something and you’re like, ‘Mom!’ It’s the same thing, he’s like a little kid. It’s kind of childish.

“It is what it is. I just think it’s funny, man, because I don’t care. I don’t give a (expletive) what that guy says to me. I don’t care at all what he says to me. Like, bro, you can say whatever you want. Say whatever you want. It’s not gonna help you. It’s not gonna save you. It’s not gonna make me not want to knock you out. It’s not gonna try to make me knock you out more. I’m not dumb. You’re not just gonna (run in going) ‘Arrgh,’ and then catch (me). Come on, man. I thought we were professionals. Let’s go.”

But while he isn’t a fan of Jones’ trash talk, Reyes said the UFC light heavyweight champion does have respect for him, largely because of the threat he poses to his championship reign. And the undefeated contender said he believes he and Jones will serve up a 205-pound classic when they meet in the main event of UFC 247.

“I think he’s treating me with a lot of respect. I think he knows how dangerous I am. I think he knows,” Reyes said. “He’s not taking this fight lightly, man – he’s not. No matter what he says, I’m one of his most dangerous opponents in a while. Thiago was pretty dangerous, and Thiago went out there and fought, but he didn’t have nearly the reach that I have. So I think this is going to be very similar to the (Alexander Gustafsson vs.) Jones 1 (fight).”

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