Ontario commission releases Jones-Gustafsson scorecards from UFC 165

The UFC 165 main event between Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson is a fight that will be talked about for a long time, not just for its high drama and for how competitive it was compared to what was expected by most pre-fight.

Ask 20 people how they scored the light heavyweight title fight, and you might get 20 different responses. As it was, Jones won with a pair of 48-47s and a 49-46 from the three judges in attendance in Toronto.

Now we know which judges went in which direction and in which rounds.

The Office of the Athletics Commissioner of Ontario today released to MMAjunkie.com the round-by-round scoring for the Jones-Gustafsson fight, which took place Saturday at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre. The main card aired on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and Facebook.

Judges Richard Bertrand and Doug Crosby scored the fight 48-47 for Jones. Chris Lee had the champion winning four rounds, giving him a 49-46 score.

All three judges scored the first round for Gustafsson, and all three scored Rounds 4 and 5 for Jones. Rounds 2 and 3 were the ones that caused some scattering.

Lee and Bertrand scored the second for Jones, while Crosby gave Gustafsson the frame – meaning on his card, the challenge was up 20-18 heading to the third, and Jones would need the final three rounds to win the fight on points. He did exactly that, in Crosby’s eyes.

Bertrand was the only one to score the third for Gustafsson.

Jones was a heavy favorite in the fight, closing at more than 8-to-1 with some oddsmakers. Against Chael Sonnen in April, he closed at as much as 11-to-1, and against Vitor Belfort a year ago, as much as 10-to-1.

But Gustafsson provided him easily his stiffest challenge yet as a pro. Jones now has gone to the judges’ scorecards four times in the UFC. His first two fights in the promotion, against Andre Gusmao and Stephan Bonnar, both went the distance, as did his UFC 145 title fight against Rashad Evans. But all three of those fights featured at least one scorecard on which he won all the rounds.

Jones said on Twitter he had an off night. And both he and Gustafsson had to go to the hospital following the bout. At the post-event news conference, UFC President Dana White said he’d be up for a rematch, but that obviously remains to be seen.

One thing that is known, is that given the buzz on social media with back-and-forth arguments among fans over who won what rounds, the fight was much closer in many observers’ eyes than even the scorecards could indicate.

For complete coverage of UFC 165, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

(Pictured: Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson)