Unfolding in Houston, Texas, UFC 247 on paper had a tough time living up to the whole ‘Everything’s Bigger in Texas’ claim. The main event featured Jon Jones taking on Dominick Reyes, far from the biggest fight of Jones’ career. Valentina Shevchenko was in a similar boat against women’s flyweight challenger Katlyn Chookagian.
It would be dangerous to write off either title challenger, however. Reyes was a perfect 12-0 to enter the night — and Jones’ mortality had been proven again by a tough outing against Thiago Santos last year. Chookagian, for her part, had defeated some top names to earn her own title shot. Including a win over former Invicta FC champ Jennifer Maia.
Juan Adams, Derrick Lewis, and Trevin Giles were among the hometown, or at least Texas-based, fighters on the card. But it was Giles fight that was arguably the most interesting. That’s due to originally opponent Antonio Arroyo being forced off the card after weigh-ins. In a flat-out crazy turn of events, James Krause, in Houston as a coach, offered to step in on 24 hours notice, up a weight class (he’s been fighting at welterweight) for the middleweight scrap.
Following the card, tune in for the post-fight press conference, scheduled to kick off at 1:15AM ET (time subject to change) to hear from the night’s big winners.
