Dominick Reyes Record: 16-5-0

Rise to a title shot

The contender run that defined Reyes came over the next two years. In October 2018 he outpointed veteran Ovince St. Preux on the UFC 229 main card, then edged former title challenger Volkan Oezdemir by split decision in March 2019. He sealed his championship opportunity that October by flattening former middleweight champion Chris Weidman with a first-round knockout, extending his unbeaten record to 12-0 and positioning him as the next man up at 205 pounds.

Championship fight and the hard years

At UFC 247 in February 2020, Reyes challenged Jon Jones for the light heavyweight title and pushed the champion to a razor-thin unanimous decision in one of the most debated results of Jones's reign. The loss began a rough stretch: a second-round TKO defeat to Jan Błachowicz for the vacant belt at UFC 253, a stunning spinning-back-elbow knockout from Jiří Procházka in 2021, and a first-round knockout by Ryan Spann in 2022 that left him on a three-fight skid.

The comeback

Reyes rebuilt methodically after time away. He returned in June 2024 to knock out Dustin Jacoby in the first round, stopped veteran Anthony Smith in December 2024, and opened 2025 with a first-round knockout of Nikita Krylov at UFC 314. A first-round knockout loss to surging contender Carlos Ulberg in September 2025 snapped the streak, but Reyes answered in April 2026 with a split-decision win over Johnny Walker at UFC 327.

Fighting style

Reyes is a rangy, athletic southpaw striker built around timing and a fight-ending left hand. Ten of his 16 wins have come by knockout, part of a 75% finish rate, and his combination of length, footwork and one-shot power makes him a constant threat the moment he plants his feet. His grappling and pace held up against Jones over five rounds, evidence of a deeper skill set than his highlight-reel knockouts suggest. The recurring vulnerability is durability under sustained pressure: four of his five career losses have come by knockout, a pattern that defines the risk in his all-or-nothing style.

Career highlights

• UFC light heavyweight title challenger — took champion Jon Jones to a hotly contested decision at UFC 247, the high-water mark of an undefeated rise.
• First-round knockout of Chris Weidman — flattened the former middleweight champion in 2019 to earn his title shot and improve to 12-0.
• Three-fight comeback streak — rebuilt his career with knockouts of Dustin Jacoby, Anthony Smith and Nikita Krylov after a difficult three-loss slide.