Las Vegas — With his TKO victory over Anthony Smith at UFC 310, Dominick Reyes now has two wins in a row for the first time in years.
That’s a comfortable place for the former title challenger to be. What wasn’t comfortable, for some, was the amount of damage Smith, reeling from the loss of his coach, endured late in the fight. Smith’s longtime coach, Scott Morton, died suddenly of a heart attack earlier this year. It left Smith in an emotional state.
Despite the discomfort some had at the fight dragging on, Reyes would have wanted it the same if the positions were reversed.
“I mean honestly, I would have had it the same way for myself. Give me every opportunity to fight,” Reyes (14-4) said following the bout, speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press. “Anthony’s a true warrior, and he’s going to fight to the end. He wanted to fight to the end. He need to feel something tonight, whatever he’s going through. But he kept moving. The ref said ‘come on Anthony,’ and he would move. So he gave him more leeway.”
Smith could be seen fighting tears during his walkout on Saturday; Reyes confirmed that “Lionheart” was emotional when the cage door closed as well.
“When I went in the cage with him, he was emotional. And that’s a dangerous man. As he said it, he’s fighting for his friend, and he doesn’t care about him, he just wants to feel something,” noted Reyes. “There was a point in the first round where he put his hands down and just like, ‘punch me in the face,’ and I obliged. That’s my job, my job is to finish you and get you out of there. Whether you’re going through something or not, you’re going to give me free shots or not, I’m going to hit you. We’re professional fighters. It’s a very dangerous game.”
Reyes did pay his respects, and sympathies, to Smith following the bout. But as Daniel Cormier noted on the UFC 310 broadcast, it was his job to put a difficult situation to the side, and fight like he didn’t care.
“I’m glad he got to come out and be the warrior that he is. This is his outlet. Like Cormier said, it’s my job to not care. My job is to win, my job is to go out there and give my best performance. And that’s all I was focused on. Whatever you’re going through, when the door closes, it’s war time.”
Watch the full UFC 310 post-fight press conference with Dominick Reyes above.
