Controversy

Jones vs. Reyes Scorecard: Did Dominick Reyes Really Beat Jon Jones?

Reyes won the first three rounds on most scorecards outside the cage. Two of the three that counted gave Jones one of them - and that was the fight.

By Jashan Oct 10, 2026 · 6 min read

At a glance

1ResultJones by unanimous decision - 48-47, 48-47, 49-46
2The judgesMarcos Rosales, Chris Lee and Joe Soliz (the 49-46)
3The strikesReyes 116 significant strikes to Jones 104 - the first time Jones was out-struck in his career
4The splitReyes 82-58 in significant strikes over rounds 1-3; Jones 46-34 over rounds 4-5
5The mediaMMADecisions media tally: 14 for Reyes, 7 for Jones
6Our card48-47 Reyes

What was at stake

By February 2020 Jon Jones was 25-1 with one no contest, the betting favourite at around -450, and one win away from a UFC record: a 14th victory in a title fight, one more than Georges St-Pierre. Dominick Reyes was unbeaten, 12-0 overall and 6-0 in the UFC, and had earned the shot with a first-round knockout of Chris Weidman. Most fans expected a coronation of Jones's record. What they got was the hardest test of his light heavyweight career and one of the most argued-about decisions in UFC history.

The official scorecards

Every judge's card, round by round, as published by the athletic commission that appointed the officials. Scores are written Jones first.

Judge	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Total
Marcos Rosales	9-10	10-9	9-10	10-9	10-9	48-47
Chris Lee	9-10	9-10	10-9	10-9	10-9	48-47
Joe Soliz	9-10	10-9	10-9	10-9	10-9	49-46

Referee: Dan Miragliotta. Every round was scored 10-9.

All three judges gave Reyes round 1 and gave Jones rounds 4 and 5. The fight was decided in rounds 2 and 3: each went 2-1 to Jones, and no judge gave Reyes both of them. Soliz's 49-46 drew the loudest criticism, but it did not decide anything - Rosales and Lee alone made Jones the winner, each by taking one of the two middle rounds from Reyes.

Two footnotes made the night stranger. The official scoresheet that circulated afterwards had "majority draw" marked at the bottom; ESPN's Marc Raimondi reported he was told it was a clerical mistake, and the result itself was never in doubt. And the three totals - 48-47, 48-47, 49-46 - were exactly the totals Jones got against Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 165, his other famous close call.

Round by round

Round 1 - Reyes (all three judges)

Reyes walked Jones down with low kicks and left hands and stuffed both of Jones's takedown attempts. He countered a low kick with a left that put Jones briefly on the canvas - a drop the official statistics do not record as a knockdown - and chased him. Jones landed a left high kick late. Significant strikes: Reyes 23, Jones 17.

Round 2 - Jones 2-1 (Rosales and Soliz)

Reyes's busiest round. He landed hard low kicks, counter lefts and an uppercut and flurried while Jones slipped out with head movement. Jones answered with lead left hooks and a spinning back kick to the body. The numbers were not close: Reyes landed 33 significant strikes to Jones's 22, the widest margin of the fight. Two judges still gave the round to Jones.

Round 3 - Jones 2-1 (Lee and Soliz)

Fast and back-and-forth. Reyes landed kicks to the legs and body and a body uppercut; Jones went for his takedowns in earnest, got in deep once, and Reyes powered out and added an elbow. Reyes stopped another attempt at the horn. Significant strikes: Reyes 26, Jones 19; Jones went 0 for 2 on takedowns and had 15 seconds of control.

Round 4 - Jones (all three judges)

Reyes started the round well, but Jones changed the fight here. He dragged Reyes down with a body lock against the fence and, although Reyes stood straight back up, kept him tied up and tiring. Jones out-landed him 20-13, completed one of three takedowns and held 56 seconds of control.

Round 5 - Jones (all three judges)

The round Jones himself said won the fight. He took Reyes down at the fence in the first minute - Reyes was up quickly - and then out-worked him with kicks and punches, landing 26 of 34 significant strikes to Reyes's 21 of 46. It was scoring rather than hurting, but it was clearly his round. Both men raised their arms at the horn.

What the numbers say

The official statistics, round by round (Reyes first):

Round	Sig. strikes	Total strikes	Takedowns	Control	Knockdowns
R1	23 – 17	23 – 17	0/0 – 0/2	0:00 – 0:00	0 – 0
R2	33 – 22	33 – 22	0/0 – 0/0	0:00 – 0:00	0 – 0
R3	26 – 19	27 – 20	0/0 – 0/2	0:00 – 0:15	0 – 0
R4	13 – 20	14 – 20	0/0 – 1/3	0:00 – 0:56	0 – 0
R5	21 – 26	22 – 28	0/0 – 1/2	0:00 – 0:30	0 – 0
Total	116 – 104	119 – 107	0/0 – 2/9	0:00 – 1:41	0 – 0

Reyes out-landed Jones in each of the first three rounds - 82 significant strikes to 58 across them - and Jones out-landed Reyes in each of the last two, 46-34. Over the fight Reyes landed 12 more significant strikes, the first time Jones had been out-struck in his career. Jones was by far the more accurate striker (104 of 166, 62%, against 116 of 259, 44%), and his wrestling gave him the only takedowns: two from nine attempts, with 1:41 of control. Reyes never tried one.

Striking totals do not score rounds, and accuracy counts for nothing if the other man lands more. What the table shows is simple: on volume, the fight was a 3-2 for Reyes, and the two rounds the judges gave Jones out of the first three were rounds Reyes won on the stat sheet.

The media agreed with the stat sheet. The MMADecisions tally of media scores came out 14 for Reyes and 7 for Jones, every one of them 48-47.

How we scored it

Round	MMA.SOCIAL	Why
R1	10-9 Reyes	The drop, more strikes (23-17) and both takedowns stuffed.
R2	10-9 Reyes	His best round: 33-22 in significant strikes, the harder shots, and nothing from Jones's wrestling.
R3	10-9 Reyes	The closest of the three, but he landed more (26-19) and stopped both takedowns.
R4	10-9 Jones	The takedown, the clinch work and 20-13 on the feet.
R5	10-9 Jones	An early takedown and 26 of 34 landed. Clear.
Total	48-47 Reyes

The case for Jones rests on round 3 more than round 2: he pressed forward, had the round's only control time, and the strike difference was seven. Even so, he spent the round trying to take Reyes down and failing, and Reyes landed the better shots in between. Round 2 is harder to see for Jones - Reyes's busiest, cleanest round of the night. Give Reyes both and he is the champion.

It was not the worst decision in UFC history. Dana White, who said he had Reyes ahead 3-1 going into the last round, called the scoring "all over the map" but said it was not a robbery, and Daniel Cormier called it a close fight that could have gone either way. But "close" is the most anyone can say for Jones. When a panel of 18 judges and regulators rescored the fight in an online training session run by John McCarthy later that spring, they reportedly agreed Reyes should have won.

What happened next

Jones defended his record more than his title. "That fifth round won me the fight," he said in the cage, and days later he argued on social media that his takedowns and pressure had earned it. Reyes was blunter: "I know I won that fight." Joe Rogan called the 49-46 card "insane".

The rematch never happened. In August 2020 Jones vacated the light heavyweight title, citing a pay dispute and a move to heavyweight. Reyes fought Jan Blachowicz for the vacant belt at UFC 253 and was stopped in the second round. Losses to Jiri Prochazka and Ryan Spann followed, and he did not win again until June 2024. Jones won the heavyweight title in 2023 - and the light heavyweight win over Reyes stayed in the record books as his 14th title-fight victory.

The verdict

Jones vs. Reyes was close enough that the official result is defensible and lopsided enough on the evidence that most people who scored it disagreed with it. Reyes won the first three rounds on volume, damage and takedown defence; two judges each took one of those rounds away from him. On our card Reyes won 48-47, and the closest look at the fight - the judges' training panel - ended up in the same place.

Full fight stats: Jones vs. Reyes. More disputed cards: the fighters with the most disputed losses, most split decisions and most UFC title fights.

Sources

Questions

Did Dominick Reyes beat Jon Jones?

Not officially. Jones won a unanimous decision at UFC 247 on February 8, 2020, with scores of 48-47, 48-47 and 49-46. Most media scorecards had Reyes winning 48-47, and so does ours: Reyes took the first three rounds.

What was the Jones vs. Reyes scorecard?

Marcos Rosales and Chris Lee scored it 48-47 for Jones and Joe Soliz 49-46. All three gave Reyes round 1 and Jones rounds 4 and 5; Rosales gave Jones round 2, Lee gave him round 3, and Soliz gave him both.

Was Jones vs. Reyes a robbery?

It is one of the most disputed title decisions in UFC history. The MMADecisions media tally favoured Reyes 14-7 and a later judges' training panel reportedly agreed he won, but it was a close fight and Dana White said it was not a robbery.

Who landed more strikes in Jones vs. Reyes?

Reyes, 116 significant strikes to 104, the first time Jones was out-struck in his career. Reyes led 82-58 over the first three rounds and Jones led 46-34 over the last two. Jones landed two takedowns from nine attempts; Reyes did not try one.

Was there ever a Jones vs. Reyes rematch?

No. Jones vacated the light heavyweight title in August 2020 and moved to heavyweight. Reyes fought Jan Blachowicz for the vacant title at UFC 253 and lost by second-round TKO.