Dominic Reyes is ready to rebuild his career following his first round stoppage win against Dustin Jacoby at UFC Fight Night: Cannonier vs Imavov.
‘The Devastator’ has had a rough run of late, picking up four consecutive losses in his last four outings and had not competed since 2022. Back in the octagon for the first time since his loss to Ryan Spann, Reyes looked cool and composed in the face of adversity against an oncoming Jacoby.
With just over three minutes left on the clock, Reyes dropped Jacoby with a knee before landing numerous big strikes which sent 'The Hanyak' crashing to the mat.
Speaking to the media post fight, Reyes reflected on his first win since 2019, against Chris Weidman and admitted that the win was one of the most special moments of his career and helped him answer some of the questions he had about himself.
“It's a relief, absolutely. When he hit me, that was a relief. I was like ‘I'm still here’, you know. I had so many questions, just questioning myself and then I saw my performance and I was like, ‘Wow.’ And I felt it out there and I was like, ‘I really do love this and I'm not going anywhere."
Moving forward, activity is key for Reyes and although he does not have any names lined up and not wanting to call anyone out, he would like to feature on a card that would go down in history. He said:
“I have no names, no nothing like that. I'm just focused. I was focused on the day, and that was it going forward. We'll see. It's more about dates than opponents for me.
He continued:
“Like I said in the ring, know I'm going to be getting married here soon. So I got to do that first and then go from there but, you know, it would be really cool to be part of something historic like The Sphere, but even then, we'll see.”
The 34-year-old hopes that this is just the start of his resurgence and that he can be some sort of an inspiration to those who are possibly going though dark days. He said:
“It's everything I've ever dreamed of since I was a small child, you know, wanting to be a professional athlete. The walkout, the reception I received from the crowd. You know, the reception I've been receiving from the fans has been a dream come true.
“You know, being respected for what I do and the resilience I have as a man, not just as a fighter. You know, I'm getting knocked down but it doesn't matter, I'm still fighting, I'm still here and I'm still capable and will put anybody's lights out. You know, Jacoby's never been finished in my division and I finished him tonight.
“Things went so well, camp when so well I wasn't even planning on finishing Jacoby. Like. Like with hands or anything like that. Like. So it's. It's relief. It's gratitude. It's. It's everything, man. It's. Think about for everybody who's going through some things, and it feels like it's never going to end. Keep. Keep grinding and keep working. And it'll end and you'll be on top again.”
Watch his full post fight interview with Paul Felder, below:
