Miami — Safe to say that Dominick Reyes heard the fans voicing their displeasure during his fight with Johnny Walker at the Kaseya Center on Saturday.
Reyes (16-5) earned a split decision victory over Walker in a fight that saw more misses than hits. “The Devastator” barely had a scratch on him after the bout, while Walker could be said to be slightly banged up at most.
“I did expect him to be a little more aggressive, but this is super f*cking dangerous. It’s a super dangerous game we’re playing,” Reyes admitted following the bout, speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press.
“Everything he did I expected. I wasn’t caught off-guard with anything. It was a good technical fight,” stated Reyes, going on to add that “the game plan got switched up a little bit. I expected him to be stepping into range more often, and he didn’t. I had to force the action a few times, I wobbled him a few times. It was a technical, good fight.”
The former light heavyweight title challenger also noted that “Being Dominick Reyes, people expect me to come out and go all crazy and go for the knockout or get knocked out.” Yet there are other motivations, and other concerns, for Reyes in the cage. “I have a son, I need to come home with two checks more than anything. Getting two checks means more than entertaining.”
That would be show and win money, as Reyes was as far away from a post-fight bonus as you could get on Saturday. As for the boo-birds in the arena, “it’s the fight game. Sometimes it goes great, sometimes it doesn’t. If they’re going to boo, they’re going to boo. Whatever. They could have easily turned around to just madhouse if I had of landed the shot I was trying to land.”
Watch the full UFC 327 post-fight press conference with Dominick Reyes above.
