Dominick Reyes took some heat from Jon Jones for his comments that the UFC light heavyweight champion hasn’t fought an “athlete” during his promotional tenure.
Jones blasted his UFC 247 foe on Twitter, calling the statement “the dumbest thing I’ve heard in a while.”
Reyes, who played college football and harbored dreams of an NFL career, addressed his remarks during a media call to promote UFC 247.
“I was speaking on being a traditional athlete: baseball, football, basketball, track and field. Those sports are different than being a martial artist,” he said. “They require a different amount of athleticism and focus. If you don’t understand it, then you don’t understand it.
“It’s getting to a very high level of athletics. It’s learning the intricacies of movement. Guys don’t study film until they get in the UFC. There’s so many intricacies of being a high-level athlete that most people do not understand.”
Regardless of athletic background, Jones is favored to retain his title against Reyes — and deservedly so. “Bones” regained his belt with a finish of Alexander Gustafsson in December 2018 and defended the crown with five-round verdicts against Anthony Smith and Thiago Santos last year.
“It’s to be expected,” Reyes said of his underdog status. “It’s Jon Jones. He is who he is for a reason. He’s a great champion. If I was not the underdog, that would be odd. It’s expected. Everything is going exactly how it should be at this time.”
Reyes has ascended to UFC title contender in rapid fashion. It was only two and a half years ago that “The Devastator” made his Octagon debut with a 29-second stoppage of Joachim Christensen at UFC Fight Night 112. He has since accumulated five more triumphs in the Las Vegas-based promotion, the most recent of which was a first-round KO of ex-middleweight champ Chris Weidman at UFC on ESPN 6.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a whirlwind,” Reyes said. “I’m living every day. I don’t really look back on it, but yeah, it happened fast. It happened because of my hard work and attention to detail.”
While Jones insisted during the call that Reyes would find his first UFC championship fight to be completely different than anything he’s experienced thus far, the California native says he’ll take a page from his college football days to make sure the moment doesn’t seem too big.
“You can worry about all those things, but it’s just one step at a time,” Reyes said. “We had a saying in college: ‘When the road ahead seems daunting, take a breath and take the next step.’”