Dominick Reyes Believes He’s 'One Away' from Second UFC Title Shot

When Dominick Reyes began his current winning streak a little less than a year ago, it was a feel-good moment in the Octagon.

Now that he’s been able to string three consecutive finishes together, Reyes is more than just a heartwarming redemption story — he’s a genuine light heavyweight contender once again.

“Every opportunity in the Octagon is its own little universe. It really is,” Reyes said in a backstage interview with the UFC. “The losses are completely devastating. The wins are everything. In this organization, every single win means everything — whether you’re barely working your way up the ladder or not — because once you get knocked down a couple rungs it’s really hard to build back up.

“I’m literally on my second UFC run, and the first one felt really good but this one feels just a little bit better because I did fall all the way down. And now I’m on the rise. One away from the title.”

Reyes secured arguably his most impressive victory of that stretch at UFC 314, when he rendered Nikita Krylov unconscious with a left hand 2:24 into Round 1 of their featured 205-pound encounter at the Kaseya Center in Miami on Saturday night.

“He’s never been knocked out before in the UFC. So I didn’t expect to knock him out,” Reyes said. “I prepared for a three-round war, where we’re just sweating and fighting for every position. When you train hard, the fight’s easy.”

Reyes is willing to put his left hand up against the best in the sport today.

“My pull-two is the best in the business. There’s no question about it,” he said. “I do things that MMA fighters don’t do. I can fight forwards and backwards.”

In February 2020, Reyes gave Jon Jones one of the toughest fights of his light heavyweight championship reign at UFC 247. While more than a few observers thought “The Devastator” deserved the nod in that bout, it sent him on something of a tailspin, as three more defeats — all via KO or TKO — would follow. With successive triumphs over Dustin Jacoby, Anthony Smith and Krylov, Reyes is close to the heights he reached some five years ago.

“I’m one away,” he said. “There’s some interesting matchups happening. We’ve got Jamahal Hill and Khalli [Rountree] fighting. That would be fun to fight the winner. Who wouldn’t want to see the rematch with Jiri [Prochazka]? And [Aleksandar] Rakic, he’s up there….that would be a fun fight as well.

“I’m trying to fight the best guys in the world and become the best in the world.”