Despite sharing the cage with a leading GOAT contender in the UFC, Dominick Reyes has a different answer for the greatest athlete he’s been matched up against.
Reyes returns to action this Saturday in the main event of UFC Perth, where the former two-time title challenger will look to continue his career resurgence.
Since a four-fight losing skid left many writing off his chances of returning to contention, ‘The Devastator’ has reeled off three wins in a row to rise back through the ranks.
The difficult run between 2019 and 2024 began with Reyes’ controversial loss to Jon Jones, which saw the defending champion awarded a decision that was widely debated.
Questionable scorecards denied Reyes a victory over a man branded the greatest of all time by many, but the 35-year-old thinks he has the chance to add an even better “athlete” to his résumé Down Under.
Dominick Reyes says Carlos Ulberg will be the ‘best athlete’ on his UFC record
Saturday’s main event at RAC Arena will be a clash between Reyes and Carlos Ulberg. The Kiwi star has won eight consecutive fights to surge all the way to No. 3 in the UFC light heavyweight rankings.
After Ulberg’s victory over Jan Blachowicz at UFC London marked his first triumph over a former champ, many are high on ‘Black Jag’ and his title chances at 205 pounds.
With that in mind, Reyes knows full well the challenge that awaits him in Perth. And while speaking to Fox Sports in August, ‘The Devastator’ went as far as to call Ulberg the best athlete he will have faced over Jones, Jiri Prochazka, and more notable names.
“This is the UFC, the hardest league in the world,” Reyes said. “So it’s not easy fighting on this stage.
“Obviously they (UFC) have built him (Ulberg), put him against lower competition. But what I make of Carlos, he’s an incredible athlete, man.
“He’s going to be the best athlete I’ve ever fought in my career,” Reyes continued. “He’s also really technical, excellent footwork.”
Dominick Reyes is targeting a dream White House rematch, but not against Jon Jones
Given the controversial result of the fight that handed Reyes his first professional loss, he’d perhaps be expected to harbor interest in a rematch against Jones.
But ahead of his upcoming showdown with Ulberg, Reyes named a different rematch he’s targeting at the UFC’s planned event at the White House in 2026.
“That’s just me talking best case scenario in terms of narratives for the fight. The rematch with Jiri, that’s the fight,” Reyes told MMA Junkie.
“I don’t really want to fight Alex (Pereira) because he’s my friend. I’ll fight him, but I don’t really want to. (Magomed) Ankalaev, I’ll fight the guy, whatever. Same with Khalil (Rountree Jr.), it’s like, whatever, but I have no history or ‘I want to get that back’ kind of deal.
“The Jiri fight was a great fight while it lasted and I think if we do it again, it’ll be another amazing fight,” Reyes continued. “I’ve got nothing but respect for Jiri. We’ve actually partied together, me and Jiri, believe it or not.”
After a back-and-forth war, Reyes was stopped by Prochazka in devastating fashion in the main event of UFC Vegas 25 in May 2021.