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Dominick Reyes says he has to put his loss to Jon Jones behind him to become the “next great champion” at light heavyweight.
It’s been seven months since Dominick Reyes came within inches of getting his hands on the UFC light heavywight title, but Reyes says he must move on from his loss to Jon Jones to become “the next great champion”.
Reyes (12-1) suffered the first loss of his professional career against Jones (26-1, 1NC) back at UFC 247 earlier this year. The fight was extremely close and ended by split decision, with many scoring it in favour of Reyes. “The Devastator” explained to MMA Fighting a recent tweet he put out thanking Jones for their fight in February.
Hey @JonnyBones thank you for the experience man, I wish you the best of luck in your journey. I know things got a lil crazy, but I just wanted to be pushed beyond my percieved limits by the LHW GOAT again. God bless and God willing we get to dance under those lights again. ?
— Dominick Reyes (@DomReyes) August 30, 2020
“It was me freeing myself from all of that controversy, from that moment,” Reyes said about the tweet. “I took what I could from it, everything I could from it and I moved forward.
“In order to be the next great champion, I’ve got to move on. There can be nothing else in the mirror. It’s one million percent focused on the target in front of me and that’s Jan Blachowicz. In order to move forward, you’ve got to let go of the past. That’s what that was.”
With Jones vacating the light heavyweight title last month ahead of a move to heavyweight, Reyes will fight Jan Blachowicz at UFC 253 on September 27th for the vacant title. Reyes said he was “proud” of his performance against Jones but his aim now is to get his hands on the belt.
“I’m very proud and happy that I went through that with him and I’m grateful that I got to be in there and do what I did and he gave me his best. He didn’t underestimate me. Not one bit. I got the best Jon Jones at the time. I just showed that I was better. I learned a s—t ton of lessons from that fight, and I’m super proud of everything. I’m proud of where I am now. I’m proud to freaking finish the job and get the belt.”