Dominick Reyes thinks UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones wants no part of a rematch.
Reyes (12-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) took Jones to the brink in the main event of UFC 247, but was edged out in a narrow decision loss after a fight that many people scored in his favor.
Ever since, Reyes has been campaigning for a rematch, with the UFC seemingly on board, but Jones has teased other options, including a move up to heavyweight to face Francis Ngannou.
Jones (26-1 MMA, 20-1 UFC) is currently in a rift with the UFC, after Dana White shut down his request for a pay raise to fight Ngannou. As a result, Jones threatened to vacate his title and continued to express his discontent with his compensation from the UFC.
But Reyes thinks it’s a ploy from Jones, who he says is avoiding a rematch with to dodge the risk of losing his title.
“It was obvious man, that last fight was a dog fight and I took it to him,” Reyes said in an interview with Chael Sonnen. “I pushed him to his limits. I pushed him somewhere he’s never been. He’s never been outstruck, he’s never been hurt like that, he’s never had an opponent that wasn’t afraid of him at all. … He’s not willing to lose his belt for less than whatever million dollars. He knows that belt is close to being lost, so he’s doing whatever he can to avoid fighting me again.
“He’ll go to heavyweight, ‘I’ll take my first loss at heavyweight, are you guys happy now? You saw me get knocked out by Ngannou,’ I think that’s kinda what he’s thinking. Do everything he can to avoid that to keep his legacy, to keep his belt. Possibly go up to heavyweight and maybe beat Francis and now OK now I can make a run at the heavyweight title.”
Dominick Reyes says Jon Jones is doing 'whatever he can to avoid fighting me again'