Dominick Reyes says he understands Jon Jones’ decision not to fight current UFC interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall.
Reyes (12-4 MMA) gave Jones (27-1 MMA) everything he could handle in their light heavyweight title fight at UFC 247 in 2020 but wound up on the wrong end of the judges’ scorecards that evening in Houston, Texas.
Despite the hotly debated outcome, Dominick Reyes was not given an immediate rematch with ‘Bones’ and has since gone on to lose his last three fights, all by knockout.
After defeating Reyes by unanimous decision, Jon Jones proceeded to vacate the promotion’s light heavyweight title for a planned jump to heavyweight.
While it took some time for Jones to make his heavyweight debut, when he did it came in stunning fashion as he submitted Ciryl Gane in just over two minutes to capture the vacant heavyweight title at UFC 285.
‘Bones’ was slated to defend his heavyweight title for the first time at UFC 295 but ended up having to withdraw from his scheduled bout with Stipe Miocic after suffering a torn pectoral in training. With that, the UFC promptly booked an interim heavyweight title fight between Tom Aspinall and Sergei Pavlovich. The outcome of that fight was a first-round knockout victory for the Brit, who has been campaigning for a fight with Jon Jones ever since.
During a recent interview with MiddleEasy, Dominick Reyes shared his thoughts on Jon Jones’ “risk management” decision not to fight Tom Aspinall.
“I completely understand where Jon [Jones] is coming from. Jon is Jon Jones, say his name anywhere in the world, and people recognize it. Fighting Tom [Aspinall] is a risk management thing. It’s almost the same reason why he didn’t rematch me kind of thing. It’s too dangerous and not enough payoff. Tom is an excellent fighter.”
Dominick Reyes continued (h/t MMANews):
“Tom is very similar to myself, but he’s a heavyweight. That’s super dangerous. He moves extremely well, he’s very quick, his wrestling is really good, his grappling is good, his power is off the charts. How is that gonna benefit Jon? Beating the most recent champion? Nah, let’s fight the greatest heavyweight of all time, Stipe Miocic… Jon is a great himself, so he’s going to fight another active great.”
While Dominick Reyes believes Tom Aspinall is an excellent fighter, he clearly understands Jon Jones’ decision to not fight the up and coming superstar.
