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Dominick
Reyes entered UFC
253 with the mindset of a champion defending his belt. He left
the Octagon humbled by Polish power.
Coming off a narrow loss to Jon Jones that
many observers thought he won, Reyes was a prohibitive favorite to
claim the vacant light heavyweight crown against Jan
Blachowicz, but it was the Polish veteran who ultimately
emerged with a second-round technical knockout triumph at the Flash
forum in Abu Dhabi on Saturday night.
Blachowicz adopted a measured approach from the outset, battering
Reyes with powerful kicks to the body that left a gnarly bruise on
the Californian’s side. In Round 2, Blachowicz appeared to break
Reyes’ nose and then later dropped him with a left hand behind the
ear. Follow-up punches sealed the deal at the 4:36 mark of the
period, making Blachowicz the UFC’s 13th light heavyweight
champion.
Throughout the contest, Reyes appeared hesitant to attack with the
trademark athleticism he used to give Jones trouble in their UFC
247 encounter. “The Devastator” acknowledged that he could have
been more aggressive in a post on his Twitter account shortly after
the defeat.
“Well f—k! Gotta pull the trigger!!! Nothing left to do but get
back up,” he wrote. “Congrats to Jan hell of a performance.”
Well fuck! Gotta pull the trigger!!! Nothing
left to do but get back up. Congrats to Jan, hell of a performance.
#UFC253
#justgettingstarted— Dominick Reyes (@DomReyes)
September 27, 2020
After beginning his professional career with 12 consecutive
triumphs, the 30-year-old Reyes has dropped back-to-back fights in
the Las Vegas-based promotion.
