Jon Jones earned his tenth title defense this past weekend (Sat., July 6, 2019) after narrowly edging out Thiago Santos in the main event of UFC 239 in Las Vegas, Nevada (see it again here). With the win, “Bones” got one step closer to cleaning out the Light Heavyweight division, improving the chances of him moving up to Heavyweight drastically.
Still, there are a few remaining contenders at 205 pounds that want their shot at Jones before he bolts. Among them is Dominick Reyes, the undefeated (11-0, 5-0 UFC) heavy-hitter who has worked his way up to the No. 4 spot on UFC’s official rankings. Upon catching wind of Jon’s recent smoke tweet, “The Devastator” didn’t hesitate with his reply.
“Absolutely, I want all that smoke. Not just the smoke, I am ready to jump in the fire,” said Reyes during an interview on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show.
“I am the next guy up. I am 5-0 (UFC), beat two former title challengers back-to-back. I’m the next guy, I am number four and he (Jones) already beat everybody in front of me and I am ready to go. I think it’s a fun matchup.”
Of course, Johnny Walker has quickly established himself as legit threat at 205 pounds, scoring four straight wins inside the Octagon included three straight first-round knockouts. While flashy, Reyes says Johnny isn’t in the championship mix just yet and isn’t worried about losing his place to the Brazilian bomber.
“I am not worried about that. His competition wasn’t on the same level as mine. Mine were on another level. My ‘OSP’ fight, they didn’t call it a finish, but it should’ve been and it was an exciting fight,” he said in reference to his near buzzer-beating knockout of Ovince Saint Preux at UFC 229.
“My last fight with Volkan, it was exciting but I didn’t get the finish. I fought through adversity, learned a lot and I am ready to go man. As far as Johnny goes, he’s got a lot of work to do. We don’t know what he’s capable of against top-level competition.”
To Dom’s point, Walker – although exciting – isn’t ready to jump the line just yet, leaving only a potential trilogy fight between Jones and Daniel Cormier, or a Heavyweight title fight against Stipe Miocic, in his way.
After all, this man is no longer in the running.