A battle between former light heavyweight title challengers Anthony Smith and Dominick Reyes has been earmarked for December.
According to a report from MMA Mania’s Alex Behunin, the former Jon Jones foes will step inside the Octagon this winter for a scrap at UFC 310. No additional details regarding the event have been revealed, but the card is rumored to go down on Saturday, December 14 inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
It will be Smith’s first time competing since a short-notice showdown with top-15-ranked middleweight Roman Dolidze at UFC 303 in June. ‘Lionheart’ came up short and has lost two of his last three, including a brutal third-round knockout loss to Khalil Rountree Jr. last December.
In between the two losses, Smith scored an upset over Vitor Petrino at UFC 301, submitting the Brazilian with a guillotine at the two-minute mark of the opening round.
Smith is a one-time UFC title challenger, facing then-light heavyweight titleholder Jon Jones at UFC 235 in 2019. ‘Bones’ handily defeated Smith via unanimous decision and ‘Lionheart’ has been trying to fight his way back to the belt ever since. Overall Smith is 37-20 in his mixed martial arts career, 13-10 inside the Octagon.
Dominick Reyes gunning for second straight win in octagon return
Meeting him inside the Octagon will be another man who knows a thing or two about overcoming adversity. After dropping a controversial decision to Jones in his first shot at the 205-pound crown, ‘The Devastator’ came up short in his next three fights, suffering a series of brutal KOs against Jan Blachowicz, Jiri Prochazka, Ryan Spann.
Earlier this year, Reyes was scheduled to face Carlos Ulberg. Not long after the bout was scrapped, Reyes discovered he had deep vein thrombosis—a blood clot that forms in a large vein, usually in the lower legs.
“I’m lucky to be alive right now, that’s always nice,” Reyes told MiddleEasy in February. “We caught it early, so it didn’t become a pulmonary embolism, and thank God for that.”
Reyes returned to the Octagon in June and earned an inspiring two-minute finish against Dustin Jacoby—his first victory in nearly five years.
‘The Devastator’ is 7-4 under the UFC banner, 13-4 overall.