‘Forever He Will Know That He Lost To Me’

Snapping a four-year run without a victory over the course of last weekend in his UFC Louisville knockout win, former light heavyweight championship challenger, Dominick Reyes has poked fun at the ongoing conversation regarding the legacy of Jon Jones – claiming he should have beaten the heavyweight king back in 2020. 

Reyes, the current number fifteen ranked light heavyweight challenger, returned over the course of last weekend in Kentucky in the co-main event of UFC Louisville, landing a blistering first round knockout win over Dustin Jacoby in the pair’s clash.

The win came as Hesperia native, Reyes’ first since 2019 knockout win over former middleweight kingpin Chris Weidman in the main event of UFC Fight Night Boston.

In the time since, Reyes had suffered a slew of four consecutive losses – three of which in vicious knockout defeats to Jan Blachowicz, Jiri Prochazka, and Ryan Spann.

Challenging former pound-for-pound number one, Jones for light heavyweight spoils at UFC 247, Reyes pushed the Rochester native to his absolute limit over the course of five rounds – suffering a close, hugely-debated unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46) defeat to the current heavyweight gold holder.

Dominick Reyes pokes fun at Jon Jones’ legacy after UFC Louisville

And amid the ongoing discussion regarding the status of Jones’ legacy should he avoid a title unification clash with current interim gold holder, Tom Aspinall, Reyes joked that the former should always remember that he should have lost his title against him four years ago.

“He (Jon Jones) doesn’t see Tom (Aspinall) or Curtis (Blaydes) as a long-standing champion,” Dominick Reyes told MMA Fighting whilst discussing Jon Jones’ legacy. “And he sees them as ‘right now’. And he’s not worried about right now, he’s worried about forever.”

“But forever, he will also know that he lost to me, but maybe we could figure that out one day,” Dominick Reyes explained. “Oh yeah, it’s not a belief [that I beat him], it’s a fact – there’s a difference.”