Dominick Reyes will have Carlos Ulberg’s sole professional loss in his mind as he tries to find a way to beat the Light Heavyweight contender on September 27.
Five years after Dominick Reyes controversially lost to Jon Jones in a fight he clearly won, he battles Carlos Ulberg in the main event of UFC Perth.
Both men are top-rated contenders, and a title fight for the UFC Light Heavyweight belt could be a reward for the winner of this bout.
A win for Reyes is crucial if he wants another shot at the title, and he has the blueprint from Ulberg’s only loss so far to copy if he wants to go for the KO victory.
- READ MORE – Rescoring Jon Jones’ ‘robbery’ over Dominick Reyes that even Dana White thought the judges got wrong
Carlos Ulberg was knocked out by Kennedy Nzechukwu in his only professional defeat
Ulberg was handed his only professional loss when Kennedy Nzechukwu forced the referee to step in and award him the knockout victory at UFC 259.
The “African Savage”, as he is affectionately nicknamed, used his reach advantage to try and keep Ulberg at arm’s length on his UFC debut, not letting him get close to try and finish Nzachukwu.
While Ulberg managed to get some big hits on him in the first round, he was finished off in the second by a devastating blow.
Nzachukwu was on the defensive and absorbing all of Ulberg’s strikes before a three-punch combination that sent him flying to the ground with his back against the cage.
He followed it up with a ground-and-pound assault that forced the referee to end the fight, giving Ulberg the first loss of his career against the dominant Nzachukwu.
This gave Reyes the perfect blueprint on what to do at UFC Perth.
Dominick Reyes can do the same to have the best chance of finishing Carlos Ulberg
Reyes is a similar fighter in style to Nzachukwu and should follow his example when trying to beat Ulberg at UFC Perth.
Nzachukwu let Ulberg go on the offensive and was happy to sit back, absorb strikes, and wait for his moment to strike, as we saw in round 2.
This is broadly the same strategy that Jones used against Reyes, although “The Devastator” managed to keep that pressure up for three rounds before running out of gas.
Both Ulberg and Reyes prefer to stay on their feet and strike, which suits the fans hoping for a big knockout to end the UFC’s return to Australia.
Reyes will need to play the Nzachukwu, sitting back and defending well before unleashing a barrage to finish the 12-1 contender in the octagon on September 27.