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Jon Jones' MMA coach Mike Winkeljohn claims he always knew Dominick Reyes would be a tough nut to crack. Reyes threw the kitchen sink at Jones in their main event clash at UFC 247 inside the Toyota Center in Houston and made the great champion look vulnerable and ordinary for a better part of the fight but ended up just short, losing via unanimous decision.
In a recent interaction with MMA Fighting, Winkeljon praised Reyes for the valiant effort, but claimed that he didn't do enough to beat the champ.
“We lost the first round. The second round I thought we edged. The third round, we might not have got that round. I honestly had [rounds] 2, 4 and 5. I think 2 and 3 were really close. You never know with judges. I was telling Jon to keep up the pressure, the pressure’s working. Keep working the body. Keep working those legs. Keep doing what you’re doing and try to break this kid."
He said that their strategy was to wear Reyes out as the fight progressed and then be aggressive in the later rounds of the fight.
“I just wanted Jon to keep gassing the kid out because he’s known for his endurance and I believe it worked out that way. Jon just kept going, dug down deep and it was an awesome fight.”
Speaking on the fight, Winkeljohn admitted that Reyes put Jones to the test but he believes Jon kept maintaining a certain level of pressure on Reyes by hitting him in different parts of the body and that's why he got his hand raised in the end.
“You hear from the ones that disagree. The ones that agree don’t get online and start talking. When you’re on top, they want to see them fall. Jon is constantly breaking somebody down, hitting them to the body, hitting them to the legs, whatever the case is, and he always does that, but as soon as he gets hit — ‘Oh my god, the champ just got hit!’
Winkeljohn mentioned that Jones will be way more dangerous in a rematch between the pair because he studies his opponents very well and he has proven that in rematches against his past opponents.
“There’s no doubt about that. Jon likes rematches. Jon is a student of the game. We would all put our heads together, but at the end of the day, Jon sits down and says, ‘This wasn’t good, this is what he can do,’ and he’ll be even more motivated. Just like [Alexander] Gustafsson where you saw his performance was totally different. It’s not that he took anybody light, but he’s just so smart at making those small adjustments that are needed. Us as a team, we’ll try to help out as well.”
