Jon Jones has vacated his UFC light heavyweight title, and now the winner of Dominick Reyes vs. Jan Blachowicz in the co-main event of UFC 253 will be the new division champion. Reyes appeared recently on The Ariel Helwani Show, and was asked for his reaction to Jones’s departure.
Aw, c’mon man! That was my reaction. Like, c’mon bro. Seriously? That’s whack,” replied Reyes. “But then it was like, ‘alright, whatever.’ The show must go on. Either way, I’m fighting, either way, I’m going for the belt. The whole goal was to get the belt anyway. It sucks that I can’t beat Jon for it at this time. But I’ll catch him. I’ll catch him later.
In Reyes’ last fight, he lost a Unanimous Decision to Jones, that UFC president Dana White thought should have gone the other way. White insisted that Jones’ next fight was a rematch. Now Jones’ next fight is at heavyweight, perhaps vs. the winner of division champion Stipe Miocic vs. Francis Ngannou.
It was a little bit shocking,” said Reyes. “But at the same time, not because I try to look at things from other peoples’ perspectives and what they’ve been through and what leads to whatever decision they make, and if you look at it, Jon, I think, truly in his heart, felt like he won that fight unanimously and he has nothing else to prove in the division. Either that or he’s like, ‘Hey man, I could really lose my belt to this guy. Let’s avoid that and we’ll just vacate and go up to heavyweight and make a run at the title.’ …
He’s moving to heavyweight because those guys are slow, you do realize that, right? He can’t keep up with us anymore. After what me and Thiago did to him, he’s like, ‘Man, I need to go up. These guys are getting too fast, they’re getting too athletic, they’re getting too good. The heavyweights are still slow. I can do my thing against them.’ I think he sees that there are better matchups for him at heavyweight than there are at light heavyweight.
Jones reacted quickly.
https://twitter.com/JonnyBones/status/1296327176019521537
https://twitter.com/JonnyBones/status/1296328885286535168
Reyes argues that Blachowicz is a harder fight than Jones would have been, and that Jones is no longer relevant to the conversation.
Jan is a beast by the way, said Reyes. I’ve been impressed with Jan for years. I’ve been trying to fight Jan since I beat Cannonier because I respect the guy’s game. He is a very technical striker, he has more power than Jon. I think he is a more dangerous fight for me to be 100 percent honest. He is a counter-striker with a lot of power and has a BJJ black belt. He is very technical everywhere. Jon doesn’t counter-strike and has no power and is not that technical, he is just tricky.
At this point, I don’t really give a s*** about Jon Jones, to be 100 percent honest. He’s irrelevant in my life now. So as far as I’m concerned, who? It doesn’t matter anymore. We’ll see what the future holds. Here’s what I’m thinking though: I win this belt, it’s gonna create all kinds of hype. Everybody’s gonna be talking about, ‘You didn’t beat Jon, blah, blah, blah, and Jon’s gonna be like, ‘Yeah. Pay-per-view. Alright,’ and then we’re gonna come together. I’m gonna be the champ, he’s gonna try to get my belt, and I’m gonna smash him. Or not and I’ll never see him again. Either that’s gonna happen or it’s not. Either way I’m still moving along and I’m good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xBgTPQqUSQ
h/t Jed Meshew for MMA Fighting
