Welcome to another edition of Payout Perspective. This time we take a look at UFC 247 from Houston, Texas.
Jones outlasts Reyes to retain title
Jon Jones received another stiff test from Dominick Reyes but was able to come on in the championship rounds to win a unanimous decision. Reyes came out of the gate strong and was able to touch Jones and his movement made it difficult for Jones to find range in the first two rounds. The third round seemed like the turning point as Jones was able to get to Reyes and likely edged out the challenger for the round and took the last two rounds for the victory.
Reyes strength was evident. Despite Jones taking Reyes down, he was unable to keep him down. It was a strong effort from Reyes but he slowed in the 4th and 5th to make the decision close but not necessarily controversial. However, many fans chimed in as to whether judging could be fixed as there was a healthy number of fans that felt Reyes won the fight. Combine that with several questionable scoring decisions earlier on the card and some on social media were calling for an overhaul of the system.
A rematch wouldn’t be out of the question although it might be in the cards for Jones to move up to heavyweight to try and win another championship.
Shevchenko proves dominant 125-pound champion
Valentina Shevchenko is a dangerous woman and she showed her dominance over Katlyn Chookagian by stopping the challenger in the 2nd round. Shevchenko was never in danger and it was clear she knew she was better than Chookagian.
Shevchenko’s next challenge should be another fight with Amanda Nunes. The fight could be a top-tier matchup with Shevchenko and Nunes’ dominance in their division. One might even say it’s a Superfight.
Attendance, Gate and Bonuses
The UFC set a Toyota Center record for highest grossing gate for the venue with $3,549,418 with 17,401 in attendance. Tickets on the secondary market did not seem infer an all-time high, nor did the fact that the upper bowl had a healthy share of tickets left during fight week. But, a late walkup for tickets and the price points for them may be attributed to the record.
The bonuses went to Mario Bautista, Khaos Williams, Trevin Giles and James Krause. Bautista and Williams earned the performance bonuses while Giles and Krause drew the Fight of the Night.
Sponsorships
Modelo, Nemiroff, Toyo Tires, Dave & Busters, P3, PokerStars, Monster & convenience store Stripes shared a column in the Octagon, Manscaped had the outside signage platform for seconds and Monster had the center.
Modelo also had the fighter prep point. During the broadcast, there were also cutaways through the Arena with people enjoying Modelo.
Notably, Reyes may have had a Body Armor sponsorship as he was holding a bottle of it prior to the decision with Jones.
Valentin Shevchenko was featured in an ad for UFC sponsor Trifecta Nutrition.
Odds and Ends
Little Woodrow’s, a Texas-based franchise bar received a lot of publicity when Derrick Lewis announced after his victory that the after party was at the bar.
James Krause took the feature Prelim bout on 24-hour notice and almost pulled off the victory.
Not the best of nights for Joe Rogan as he started it off by calling Dominick Reyes, Dominic Cruz to which you can tell Cruz heard it. Rogan also called out judges for not watching a fight. Whether or not the people Rogan was looking at were the judges was never confirmed.
There were over 2M google searches on Friday night prior to the fight for UFC 246. Valentina Shevchenko had over 200M google searches on Saturday likely due to her devastation of Chookagian which included a kick that sounded like a gun went off.
Jones’ brother, Arizona Cardinals Defensive Lineman Chandler Jones and his teammate Budda Baker, made a cameo on UFC Embedded.
The UFC Embeddeds are starting to do more of an infomercial with USADA featuring Jeff Novitsky.
Speaking of Novitsky, he sent out a tweet addressing Jon Jones and drug testing.
Conclusion
UFC 247 likely will not draw over 1 million buys like 246 but it did well. Jon Jones is a proven draw but not to the heights of a Conor McGregor. Nevertheless, Jones is becoming (or you can use past tense) must-watch UFC-content. He hasn’t lost (excluding his DQ to Matt Hamill) and is running through the light heavyweight division. Is a move to heavyweight happening this year? Shouldn’t he just fight Corey Anderson? We’ll see what the champ does.
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