UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones was pushed to the limit in the UFC 239 main event Saturday night, but he still escaped T-Mobile Arena with his belt intact, as he took a razor-thin split decision over Brazil’s Thiago Santos.
“Oh my goodness,” said Jones. “Boy, was he tough. His best chance was to win by knockout, I played it smart.”
Scores were 48-47 twice and 47-48 for Jones, now 25-1 with 1 NC. The No. 2-ranked Santos falls to 21-7.
Santos knocked Jones off balance with an early leg kick, drawing a reaction from the crowd and more kicks in response from the champion. Santos was busy with his strikes, busier than most Jones’ opponents, but the New Yorker kept his cool as he moved forward. With less than two minutes to go, Jones got his mouthpiece knocked out, but he was unhurt. Santos didn’t care, though, as he kept firing bombs at Jones until the horn sounded.
Early in round two, Santos appeared to hurt himself while landing a kick to Jones’ leg, but he apparently recovered quickly. Jones kept the pressure on, but he wasn’t producing much offensively, as it was Santos who kept throwing. Midway through the round, a Jones kick landed as Santos stumbled to the mat, again bringing up the possibility that the Brazilian’s left leg was injured. That didn’t stop the offense of “Marreta” who was throwing each punch and kick with fight-ending intentions.
Jones picked up his pace in the third round, but Santos was still letting bombs go, remaining dangerous. In the second minute, Jones went high with a flying knee and wound up hitting the deck himself, but Santos wasn’t able to capitalize. Soon, Santos was cut and Jones was bringing the heat for his best round of the fight thus far.
Santos went on the attack to begin round four, but Jones weathered the storm and reset himself at range. There were still momentary stumbles from Santos on his left leg, but he was still throwing it. Jones began attacking the right leg, and it was affecting Santos, whose output was dropping. And while Jones wasn’t setting the world on fire with his own offense, he was landing enough to keep the challenger at bay.
With five minutes remaining, Santos was back to throwing hard, and while Jones was unmoved, the Brazilian was scoring in a pivotal final round. Santos’ leg was visibly giving him more issues as the time ticked away, and these moments gave Jones the openings he needed to go back into the aggressor’s role. That was enough for two of the three judges, and that was all “Bones” needed to retain his title.
