UFC Perth star Dominick Reyes announced his Octagon arrival in style with a brutal and fast finish eight years ago.
The Octagon will soon be back on Australian soil, as mixed martial arts’ leading promotion closes out its September schedule with a UFC Fight Night in Perth.
Headlining will be former light heavyweight title challenger Reyes, who heads into enemy territory against Oceania’s own Carlos Ulberg. To win his fourth fight in a row, ‘The Devastator’ is tasked with ending an even lengthier run against ‘Black Jag’, who has won eight straight since a debut loss.
Amid his career resurgence, Reyes will hope to continue recapturing the kind of form that saw him win his first six UFC fights en route to a shot at Jon Jones. And he could do worse than repeating the performance that kickstarted that run to the title back in 2017.
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Dominick Reyes starched UFC debut opponent to prove he was a ‘force to be reckoned with’
Before Reyes was defeated by Jones in a controversial UFC 247 main event that many believed the challenger did enough to win, the Californian enjoyed a perfect start to life on MMA’s biggest stage.
The brutal six-fight run that went on to earn Reyes a first title shot was not shocking given how he’d announced his arrival in the promotion.
After a head kick knockout under the LFA banner that put plenty of hype behind his name, Reyes debuted in the UFC with a thunderous 29-second KO against Joachim Christensen in Oklahoma City.
The 2017 finish sent the fans and commentators crazy at Chesapeake Energy Arena, with Jon Anik providing some appropriate plaudits for a prospect who would go on to stop the likes of Jared Cannonier and Chris Weidman in similarly brutal fashion.
“Massive knockdown for Reyes? That is it!
“Do you believe it?! Dominick Reyes! Man. This man came in with all the hype in the world, and lives up to it and then some.
“There is a new force to be reckoned with at 205 pounds, Dominick Reyes!”
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The biggest mistake Dominick Reyes made after losing to Jon Jones
Things quickly fell apart for Reyes following his first career defeat at the hands of Jones. After a battle that is widely credited as the toughest test of the GOAT contender’s career, ‘The Devastator’ went on to lose his next three fights.
Every setback on that run came via knockout, and it was Reyes’ brutal KO loss to Ryan Spann that opened his eyes to what was going wrong.
“I’d never lost at all ever in MMA my whole career,” Reyes said on the Pound 4 Pound podcast. “So when I came out and I lost this decision to Jon, I tried to make changes that I didn’t need to make.
“I changed my team… like why did you change your team, you know? I tried to change my style…I tried to figure out why I lost that fight and I tried to figure out why I didn’t knock out Jon.
“So, I tried to change my style to stand in the pocket more, new coaches, whole new team, and that f—– me up,” Reyes continued. “You change everything and you already have it and you’re changing it. Why?
“After that fight (against Spann), I was like, ‘You know what, man? I need to stop all this…I need to just get back to the work, get back to exactly what I was doing.'”
The former two-time title challenger has since returned to a winning streak, with Reyes’ first-round KO against Nikita Krylov this past April marking his third consecutive victory.