The best and worst from UFC 247: Jones vs. Reyes

#1 Best: Shevchenko proves her dominance again

Valentina Shevchenko dominated Katlyn Chookagian en route to a third-round TKO

Most UFC fans had accepted the greatness of Valentina Shevchenko going into last night’s show; the current UFC Flyweight champion had already made two successful defenses of her title prior to last night, and faced with a seemingly overmatched contender in Katlyn Chookagian, the big question was whether ‘The Bullet’ could destroy her like she’d done to Jessica Eye – or whether she’d simply outclass her in dull fashion as she’d done with Liz Carmouche.

Well, thankfully the outcome was the former; Shevchenko comfortably outstruck ‘Blonde Fighter’ for the first two rounds, barely even allowing her to land a strike, before taking her down in the third and advancing to a crucifix, where she landed enough unanswered shots to force a TKO.

Can anyone defeat Shevchenko at 125lbs? Personally I don’t think they can at the minute at least. The division is arguably the thinnest in the UFC – aside from Women’s Featherweight – and when you add in the success that ‘The Bullet’ had at 135lbs, she might be the most dominant champion in the promotion, period.

Last night was another example of her domination, and hopefully for her, she manages to become a little more popular – with both the fans and the UFC – than the equally dominant former men’s Flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson was. If she keeps performing like this, she’ll be well on her way.

💃🏆💃@BulletValentina #UFC247 pic.twitter.com/2lZxcwHMcL

— UFC (@ufc) February 9, 2020

#2 Best: Tafa gets it done quickly

Justin Tafa knocked out Juan Adams in violent fashion

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from the Heavyweight clash between Juan Adams and Justin Tafa; both men were coming off losses, and neither had really shown any skills that suggested they could make it to the elite level in the UFC, meaning the best I was hoping for was a quick and violent KO from either man.

I was picking Adams to win based on his powerful wrestling game, but instead Tafa caught him with some clean punches early in the fight, and they were enough to put ‘The Kraken’ out for the count. The win was the first for the Aussie in the UFC, and it was definitely a memorable one.

Does it make ‘Bad Man’ a contender in the division? In all honesty no; he’s still wildly unproven and Adams may well be gone from the UFC following his third loss in a row, but it was still nice to see a vicious knockout in a fight like this after a run of decisions on the card, meaning it’s an easy thumbs up from me.