Another weekend of fisticuffs has come and gone after UFC Vegas 25 blew the roof off UFC Apex last Sat. night (May 1, 2021) in Las Vegas, Nevada. Plenty of fighters were left licking their wounds including Cub Swanson, who was knocked out by Giga Chikadze in just 63 seconds (see it again here).
And Luana Pinheiro, who was knocked out of commission by Randa Markos with an illegal up-kick (video here). But which fighter is suffering from the worst post-fight hangover now a few days removed from the show?
Dominick Reyes.
Coming into his headlining bout against Jiri Prochazka, Reyes had the chance to earn yet another shot at the Light Heavyweight title despite the fact that he was coming off two straight championship defeats to Jon Jones and Jan Blachowicz, according to promotion president Dana White.
Once the dust settled, however, “The Devastator” was sent home with his third straight loss, second by way of brutal knockout. It was a competitive bout throughout, with Reyes even hurting Prochazka at one point and threatening with a guillotine choke. But after “Denisa” got into his flow, he wound up connecting on a devastating spinning back elbow that sent Reyes crashing to the canvas, putting him out for the count.
With three straight losses, it will be a tough road back to title contention for Reyes, who will probably drop a couple of spots in the official rankings after suffering his latest setback. It’s hard to say what’s gone wrong with Reyes over his last three fights other than the fact that he’s faced nothing but killers, which includes the pound-for-pound G.O.A.T. in Jon Jones, the current 205-pound champion in Jan Blachowicz, and an ex-titleholder for RIZIN in Prochazka.
Interestingly enough, his slump after a tough fight against Jones isn’t an isolated incident. When Alexander Gustafsson suffered a second loss to the former 205-pound champion, he went on to lose his next two UFC fights via submission and ultimately retired. Thiago Santos, meanwhile, hasn’t won since losing a razor-thin split decision to “Bones,” dropping back-to-back losses to Glover Teixeira and Aleksandar Rakic.
Then we come to Reyes, who is 0-2 since coming ever-so-close to dethroning Jones in Jan. 2020. That said, Reyes is still a talented fighter and has the ability to bounce back. After his second straight crushing KO defeat, he will probably take some time off to heal up and regroup.
When he does decide to return, perhaps a fight against the aforementioned Thiago Santos is in order. Despite constantly being ranked close to one another over the last few years their paths have never crossed inside the Octagon. But now that both combatants are riding three-fight losing streaks, it seems as good a time as any.
For complete UFC Vegas 25 results and coverage click here.