The UFC heavyweight kingpin Jon Jones might have won at UFC 247 against Dominick Reyes via unanimous decision. But was it a sweet victory or did it leave a bitter taste in his mouth? We don’t know about bitter, but salty is a term we’d use for the X Jones put out in 2024. ‘Bones’ said, “What a claim to fame, almost beat Jon Jones. Got full of myself and literally couldn’t win another fight.” Well, it was actually Reyes who had taken a jibe at Jones while speaking to Ariel Helwani, stating, “Forever he’ll also be known as the one who lost to me, maybe we can figure that one out one day. It is not a belief. That’s a fact.”

But why did Dominick Reyes bring this up so many years later? Well, because Jones might have won as per the judges, but lost (like he usually does) in the court of public opinion. Many fans criticized the scoring and claimed that Reyes had won. Dominick Reyes is on his way to fighting at UFC 314 after two back-to-back wins, but the ghost of the Jon Jones fight remains in his path. And 5 years after that matchup, Reyes still believes he should have won and reiterated the same during UFC 314 media day.

During the UFC 314 media day, on being asked about the historic showdown for the belt, ‘The Devastator’ said, “In regards to Jon Jones, man, we’re locked in this moment in time, in history forever, whether he likes it or not. And that is just the bottom line. You know it was a legendary fight, it will go down in history as a legendary performance by me, and he is not happy that people will forever say that he didn’t win that fight. And that’s the bottom line. Whatever he has to say, he has to say, you know. But I know who I am, what I am, and what happened, and that’s the end of that.”

This mega fight saw Reyes shock Jones with a slew of combination attacks, which took the latter by surprise. The fight was so close and within Reyes’ reach that the MMA fandom believed that the Mexican-American star should have gotten the win since he almost pulled up the biggest upset at UFC 247. Nevertheless, the judges gave the win to Jones, and since then, Reyes has had a hard time climbing the UFC ladder. He confessed that he lost track and opened up about his struggles to Ariel Helwani. Let’s take a look.

Dominick Reyes narrated his anguish after losing to Jon Jones on paper

Dominick Reyes, in his confession to Helwani, said, “I lost my way. I was looking for something that I already had. I thought I needed to do more after the [Jon] Jones fight. I felt like I could have given more somehow, when in reality, I gave everything I had and then some. And it took a lot from me. And I was searching for more, and I lost my way looking for something that wasn’t there.”

It was not easy for the light heavyweight fighter as he garnered back-to-back losses, leading to a 4 losing skid. Yet, after winning against Jacoby, his confidence seemed to return, and he got another win against Smith, both by splendid TKOs. He told ESPN MMA in June 2024  how “everything went to plan,” and he said he had fun while fighting Jacoby.

As for the fight against Anthony Smith, ‘The Devastator’ had a pretty emotional response to it. “Anthony is a true warrior, and he’s going to fight to the end, he wanted to fight to the end,” Reyes expressed at the UFC 310 post-fight press conference. He further stated that ‘Lionheart’ “needed to feel something tonight” after the passing of his long-time coach and friend, Scott Morton. Dominick Reyes did win this fight via TKO, but it was a bitter-sweet one. Now that he is returning to UFC 314 against Nikita Krylov, do you think he can increase his winning streak?