Dominick Reyes opens up on loss to Jiri Prochazka: ‘That was a wild, brutal fight’

Dominick Reyes has broken his silence on his loss to Jiri Prochazka.

Back in May, Reyes suffered a brutal KO loss to Prochazka in one of the best fights of this year. It was his third loss in a row and since the fight, Reyes hasn’t spoken about it until he caught up with MMA reporter, James Lynch on Thursday to discuss the loss. He also revealed he has changed camps as he is now training at Xtreme Couture but is being cautious with his training as he still is healing his brain.

“It was one of those hard, grueling fights that everybody saw me put everything on the line. Everyone saw him put everything on the line,” Reyes said to Fanatics View. “At the end of the day, it is all about respect. It was a big fight for me to build my legacy, to have those crazy fights, those tough fights where it looks like I’m out, but I’m still fighting. It was important to me to prove to myself that I guess I still kind of got it. I’m still willing to go out there and jump into the fire, I proved it to myself in that fight.

“It felt good, it didn’t go my way obviously, I could have done some things better, but it is part of the process,” Reyes continued. “I’m out here making those adjustments and having fun with it. I took a good amount of time off, that was a wild, brutal fight. We are light heavyweights so each punch takes a lot more out of you, took some time to heal up and now I’m out here training.”

Image via @ufc on Instagram

During the fight, Dominick Reyes had some success and landed big shots. He also landed a vicious upkick, which Prochazka said had knocked him out for a second. Reyes, too, says he felt Prochakza go out for a second.

“I upkicked him really hard and he went out fully. I knew he was out but I couldn’t move properly with the way he fell on me, it made it so I couldn’t advance position or take advantage of it,” Reyes added. “But, hey man, the guy’s a f*****g beast. He did his thing, for me to fight guys like Jiri is everything, I’m trying to fight the best guys in the world and good human beings. He’s a samurai, he’s got the warrior spirit all the way around. I got nothing but respect for the guy. We looked at each other in the pre-fight faceoff and I knew it was going to be a great fight, man.”

Reyes has not fought since the loss and he has no fight booked as he is being cautious with his brain. Prochazka, meanwhile, is set to serve as the backup fighter for the UFC 267 title fight between Jan Blachowicz and Glover Teixiera.

What do you make of Dominick Reyes’ comments on his loss to Jiri Prochazka?