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One of UFC's brightest prospects at the moment, the undefeated Dominick Reyes knows that he is probably just one win away from the much-coveted title shot against UFC light heavyweight champion Jon 'Bones' Jones. Reyes is on a five-win streak in the UFC and he is set to face former UFC middleweight champion, Chris Weidman this Friday in the main event of UFC on ESPN 6.
In Weidman, who’ll be making his debut in the light heavyweight division, Reyes is probably faced with the biggest test of his fighting career. Reyes claims he didn’t think twice before taking the fight with Weidman when it was proposed to him because the latter is one of the biggest names in the organization, having beaten the likes of Yoel Romero and the legendary Anderson Silva.
“The thing with Chris Weidman, this is the trade off with this fight,” Reyes told MMA Fighting.
“I have the ranking, I have the skills — he has the name. That’s what he’s bringing to the table. He’s bringing name recognition. He beat Anderson Silva. He was the middleweight champ for a good amount of time. So with this fight, what I gain is I beat a big name, a worldwide name, and I’m more marketable. It’s name versus record at this point.”
Despite the fact that Weidman has only got his hand raised once in the last five times he entered the Octagon, Reyes does not think that his counterpart is finished yet.
“Regardless of what anybody says, he’s no joke. I don’t know what’s going on with the MMA media and Twitter and they’re just writing everybody off now. People are quick to write people off. Even myself, they’re trying to write me off, and I won!”
Reyes is aware that heading into the fight, Weidman’s back is against the wall and he will be desperate to stop Reyes, trying to take the fight to the ground at every opportunity he gets presented with.
"I know what’s going to happen. He’s going to shoot on me,” Reyes said. “He’s going to try to take me down. I don’t know if he’s going to try to manhandle me, because he can’t – I’m much bigger than him. But he’s going to try to control me. Honestly, I’m expecting a shot, (and) I’m expecting takedown attempts."
Reyes will be looking to test Weidman’s chin to see if the former champ still has the ability to take a punch after being knocked out in four of his last five fights.
“For me, I just want to put hands on him, period,” Reyes said. “Whether his chin holds up or not, that remains to be seen, but I’m going to put a lot of hurt on this guy. I’m going to hurt him. He’s going to feel a lot of pain. I’m not here to play or just to score points. I want to hurt him.”
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