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Dominick Reyes is gearing up for a light heavyweight showdown against Dustin Jacoby in the co-main event of UFC Louisville. The upcoming Fight Night event is set to take place this Saturday at the KFC Yum! Center in Kentucky.
Reyes kicked off his professional MMA journey in December 2014, building an impressive undefeated streak of six victories before making his UFC debut in June 2017. He made a memorable entrance into the promotion with a 29-second knockout win over Joachim Christensen.
However, what many may not know about 'The Devastator' is that he didn't begin training in MMA until early 2014, a decision prompted by the realization that his NFL aspirations were unlikely to materialize.
Reyes served as the starting safety for the Stony Brook Seawolves from 2009 to 2012, where he eventually assumed the role of captain. He earned recognition twice on the All-Conference team, notably securing a spot on the First Team All-Big South in 2012.
Graduating as the program's solo tackles leader with 158, the 34-year-old American tallied a total of 259 tackles during his collegiate career. Despite garnering interest from NFL teams, Reyes' speed was deemed average, resulting in him going undrafted in the 2013 NFL Draft.
Transitioning careers, 'The Devastator' returned to California and engaged in construction and manual labor for his father's cabinetry business to make ends meet. Later, Reyes found stability by taking on a role as an IT technical support specialist at Oak Hills High School in 2017.
While working as an IT specialist, the former 205-pound title challenger began training at Combat Cage Academy, a gym owned by his brother Alexander Reyes, and eventually made his UFC debut in the same year.
Reyes is currently contending with a difficult series of four consecutive losses, which commenced with a contentious unanimous decision loss to former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones at UFC 247 in February 2020. Subsequently, he suffered three successive knockout defeats against Jan Blachowicz, Jiri Prochazka, and most recently Ryan Spann at UFC 281.
When Dominick Reyes reflected on NFL draft snub
During an interview (via Yahoo Lifestyle) with veteran combat sports journalist Kevin Iole in March 2019, Dominick Reyes weighed in on his disappointment over not making it to the NFL, likening it to the end of a significant personal relationship.
'The Devastator' shared that despite performing exceptionally well and outclassing his competition during the drafts, he was emotionally shattered by his failure to secure a spot:
"I thought it was going well. When I was doing drills, forward drills and backpedaling, I had the smoothest backpedal. I covered the most ground. I made my interceptions. I felt like everything was going great."
Reyes added:
"I’m 6-4, and everybody around me was 5-10. I’m like, 'OK, this is going to go well.' But it didn’t. It didn’t go well, I guess, as I thought it did. I don’t know what it was, but it didn’t work out. And it was crushing. Oh man, it was full-on crushing."
