Former UFC light heavyweight title challenger Dominick Reyes has broken his silence about his main event loss back in May.
It has been five months since Jiri Prochazka viciously knocked Reyes out at UFC Vegas 25. The fight won Fight of the Night and is one of the front runners for Fight of the Year. The loss was Reyes’ third in a row, losing to then-champion Jon Jones, current champion Jan Blachowicz, and Prochazka.
After the knockout loss, Reyes went dark on social media, only posting a handful of times. However, Reyes gave his first interview on Thursday, talking with James Lynch about his loss.
“Yeah, man, it was one of those hard, grueling fights that everyone saw me put everything on the line. Everyone saw him put everything on the line. At the end of the day, it’s all about respect. It was a big fight for me to build my legacy, to have those crazy fights, to have those tough fights. It was important to me as well to prove that I still kind of got it. I’m still willing to go out there and jump in the fire. I proved it to myself with my fight,” Reyes told Lynch. “It didn’t go my way, obviously. I could have done some things better, but it’s part of the process. I’m out here now making those adjustments.”
Reyes revealed that he has moved his training camp to Xtreme Couture, located in Las Vegas. He said the move was already in the works, win or lose in his last fight.
Reyes is taking his health seriously, and after a vicious knockout, he took some time off.
“I took a good amount of time off because it was a wild and brutal fight. We’re light heavyweights, so every punch takes a lot more out of you…I took two months off just to heal my superficial injuries as well as like brain injuries-things like that. And then I got knee surgery, so I had to take a month or two with that, so it’s been about four months off, which really isn’t anything considering the damage that was done,” Reyes said.
“I wasn’t going to the gym and being like I got to keep training. It was like, bro, I actually have to heal. I have to let my mind-like this is real shit. I want to be able to talk to my grandkids when I’m older.”
As for a potential return date, Reyes isn’t looking to get back into the octagon until at least mid-February at the earliest. He does not have an opponent in mind.
