Dominick Reyes Open To Interim Title Fight With Jan Blachowicz But Wants Jon Jones Rematch
Dominick Reyes is more than willing to fight Jan Blachowicz next. However, his priority remains a rematch with Jon Jones.
Reyes pushed Jones to the limit in their light heavyweight title fight at UFC 247 back in February with many believing he had done enough to earn the victory. In the end, Jones earned the unanimous decision nod with calls for an immediate rematch since.
However, another contender has emerged in Blachowicz, who after knocking Corey Anderson out a week after UFC 247, confronted Jones who was in attendance. “Bones” also seems receptive to facing the Polish knockout artist next.
At this point, it’s hard to say who will get the next title shot. Nobody would complain if Reyes earned another opportunity, but at the same time, it’s hard to deny Blachowicz who has won seven of his last eight outings.
Reyes wouldn’t mind facing Blachowicz for an interim title either. But given that there were already talks of a rematch with Jones before the COVID-19 situation escalated, he is confident he will get a second crack.
“I think he’s a fantastic fighter,” Reyes told MMA Fighting of Blachowicz in a recent interview. “I think he’s one of the most technical guys in the division. I think he has some really good power. I think he’s just a technical beast and he has a lot of experience to where he’s wise with his technical ability. I’ve been wanting to fight Jan since I beat Jared Cannonier.
“I don’t know if you guys know or remember, I called him out right after the fight. This is a guy I’ve been wanting to fight for a minute, so if there’s an interim then yeah, hell yeah, let’s do it. But I think we’re gonna get that rematch first.”
If it is Blachowicz who gets Jones next, Reyes will either have to wait for the winner of that fight or face another contender in the meantime. And given the new names in the division, “The Devastator” is more than willing to remain active in what he believes is an exciting weight class again.
“I freakin’ love it,” Reyes added of the state of the light heavyweight division. “When I first got in the UFC, I was just always talking about trying to revive the division, being the new face of 205. We’ve got guys coming up, but I’m just the leader of the class. And that’s exactly what’s happening. The division is gonna be exciting as long as I’m in the division. It’s gonna be a lot of fun. There’s a lot of great matchups out there for me. The list is so long now, it’s so exciting. I’ll just throw out a couple of names of guys that I respect in the division that I think I’ll fight in the future.
“So we’ve got Aleksander Rakic, we’ve got [Ion] Cutelaba, we’ve got [Jiri Prochazka], but we’ve got to see how how he fights. Corey Anderson, Johnny Walker, Jan, Thiago, this is gonna be great. This is gonna be a fun next seven or eight years.”
Who do you think Jones should face next?
