It took years before Dominick Reyes turned his UFC career after fighting against Jon Jones.
The #8 UFC Light Heavyweight candidate is back to winning ways in 2025. Reyes, 35, has won three fights in a row by stoppage, such as Nikita Krylov, Dustin Jacoby and one-off title champion Anthony 'Lionheart' Smith.
Reyes, a former title -Uitdager himself, almost took the light heavyweight title of the 'Goat' Jon Jones consensus in 2020.
Although he thought he had done enough to beat Jones in five rounds, Jones finally took the unanimous decision gain on UFC 247, to never return to the light heavyweight.
Reyes then lost his next three fights to Jan Bachowicz, Jiri Procazka and Ryan Spann before returning to the win column last year.
Looking back now, Reyes knows where things went wrong.
Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty images
Dominick Reyes made unnecessary changes after Jon Jones Vecht
Reyes speaks on the poundcast of Pounde 4 pounds and says he never thought of retiring after four consecutive losses.
“I was just getting my s – together,” said Reyes that he was coming back from his losing skid.
“I had never lost my entire career in MMA.”
Reyes was a perfect 12-0 when he fought against Jones for the world title, with half of those victories in the Octagon.
“Some guys come to the UFC, they lose their first pair or win a pair, lose a few and then step on a line or whatever. I streak all the time.
“So when I came out and I lost this decision to Jon, I tried to make changes that I didn't have to make,” said Reyes.
“I changed my team … like why did you change your team, you know?
“I tried to change my style to sit more in the bag and just throw hands,” Reyes went on.
“I [thought] I need more power. I tried to find out why I lost that fight and I tried to find out why I did not eliminate Jon because I have a few f – a few times clean. And I'm so of it, I just didn't have enough strength.
“So I tried to change my style to be more in the bag, new coaches, the whole new team and those F – – me,” Reyes admitted.
“You change everything and you already have it and you change it. Why?
'I went with training with [Alex] Pereira and Glover [Teixeira] For the Spann fight. That whole thing was a different situation in which I tried to find myself. After that fight I thought, you know what, man? I have to stop all this … I just have to go back to work, go back to exactly what I did … “
Dominick Reyes is probably a victory away from a different title shot
Five years away from his close decision against Jones, Reyes is about to have 205 pounds.
On a streak with three fights, Reyes was recently booked to fight #3 Compenders Carlos Ulberg in the five -round main event of UFC Perth on 27 September.
If Reyes gets up his hand, he might possibly against the winner of Magomed Ankalaev vs. Alex Pereira can fight, the next light heavyweight title fight.
Pereira seems to avenge his title loss against Ankalaev on UFC 320 in Las Vegas on October 4.