DETROIT – Dominick Reyes has had only one UFC showing, but thanks to his left hand, it was enough to change his life.
Reyes made sure to enter the octagon on the right foot at UFC Fight Night 112 in June, needing only 30 seconds to dispatch Joachim Christensen.
A quick knockout in your debut – against an opponent who’d never been finished – is reason enough for any fighter to get excited. And for Reyes, who’d failed to make it to the NFL, it already served to legitimize his road as a professional athlete.
But things got even better for the light heavyweight, who earned a “Performance of the Night” bonus for his display in Oklahoma City (via Twitter):
“When I was leaving Oklahoma, my brother told me, ‘Ok, back to reality.’ I’m like, ‘I don’t think I’ll ever go back to reality again. This is my new reality. It’s fighting now,” Reyes told MMAjunkie. “So I resigned from my position at work, and now I’m fighting full time.”
An added $50,000, it turns out, can really make an impact.
“It was my year’s salary working at the school district – in 30 seconds,” Reyes said. “So I was able to resign, and now I can train full time and get the rest I need. And really do the things I need to do to be a complete fighter. So it’s very exciting.”
On Saturday at UFC 218, Reyes (7-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) meets Jeremy Kimball (15-6 MMA 1-1 UFC) at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena looking add a second victorious chapter to his octagon road. The light heavyweight bout streams on UFC Fight Pass, before added prelims on FS1 and the pay-per-view main card.
Reyes had had a short-but-impressive road since his pro MMA debut in 2014. Not only has he won all seven of pro bouts, but five of them were first-round knockouts. Less than a month before his UFC debut, in fact, Reyes made waves with a head kick that dropped Jordan Powell cold in their LFA 13 encounter (via Twitter):
Pffffff. Amazing head kick KO by Dominick Reyes. That head shake…. #LFA13 https://t.co/jnoL6WEndq—
caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) June 03, 2017
Reyes was already expecting a win over Powell to result in a call from the UFC. But the way it happened just streamlined it all.
“And then I fought for the UFC and another beautiful performance,” Reyes said. “I just hope to continue that streak.”
Being relatively new to MMA, Reyes said, has an upside since his skill set is still in constant evolution. And he’s excited to showcase it against Kimball.
“I know he’s deceivingly athletic,” Reyes said. “He’s a tough cat. He shouldn’t go down easy, and I’m looking forward to the challenge. He’s a striker, and I’m a striker. We’re going to throw hands, and I’m going to come out on top. That’s the plan.”
But given a choice, Kimball would like the fight to end the same way that most of his other professional MMA fights did.
“If I could go out there and finish him quick, I’m going to finish him quick,” Reyes said. “I have a lot of new stuff I have. But if I don’t have to show it, I don’t have to show it. It’s just secret weapons that you don’t have to use.”
To hear more from Reyes, check out the video above.
And for more on UFC 218, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.
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