LAS VEGAS — After starring at safety for Hesperia High and Stony Brook University, Dominick Reyes found no takers for his skills in the NFL.
Reyes chose to channel his energy and frustrations into fighting. Now he lays the wood on different opponents.
On Saturday at UFC 229, Reyes will pit his undefeated record against another former football player in former University of Tennessee defensive end Ovince Saint Preux inside T-Mobile Arena.
“He’s tough, he’s a veteran. He’s got the tools, man, but I feel like I’m just better,” Reyes said of the 35-year-old Saint Preux (22-11), who has gone 11-6 in more than five years in the UFC.
“I believe I’m more fluid, I got more speed, I’m a little quicker. Maybe a little smarter too. We’ll see.”
Saint Preux knows he has the experience advantage over Reyes, 28, who has been fighting for only five years and will be making just his fourth trip into the Octagon in 16 months.
But the former interim light heavyweight title challenger, who lost a unanimous decision to Jon Jones in April 2016, isn’t deterred by Reyes finishing eight of his nine wins. Saint Preux feels he has the edge everywhere.
“His striking is pretty good, but I think my striking is just as good too. Same thing. I’ve knocked people out with my hands, knocked people out with my feet. It’s no biggie to me,” the seventh-ranked Saint Preux said. “I want it to go on the ground. A lot of people don’t know what’s gonna happen once they get on the ground.”
A little gridiron positional rivalry has also come into play. Saint Preux says, as a former defensive end, he was doing the hard work in the trenches.
Reyes counters by pointing to his fluidity, speed, quickness and intellect.
“I made all the calls. I made all the checks. I was making calls on the fly,” said the 6-foot-4 Reyes, a two-time All-CIF pick at Hesperia and two-time all-conference player and four-year starter at Stony Brook. “I had to check the linebackers, the D-line and the cornerbacks and the other safeties.
“I was considered the quarterback of the defense. I take pride in that.”
The biggest similarity between football and MMA, according to the 12th-ranked Reyes, is how it feels when it’s game time.
“It’s that butterfly feeling, that anxiety, excitement, everything at once and you just hone in on it,” Reyes, who fights out of Victor Valley. “You understand the preparation you’ve done is enough and then you let go and you ball out.”
One difference is obviously the numbers – relying on your 10 teammates on defense, as well as the other 11 on the other side of the ball, to work together and perform as a unit.
Reyes does have coaches and trainers – Joe Stevenson at Cobra Kai, along with Team Quest in Temecula and Team Elevation in Colorado – but it’s often his burden to shoulder alone.
“It’s up to me to prepare. It’s up to me to not eat this, it’s up to me to sacrifice that or run these miles when nobody’s looking or getting up early,” said Reyes, who graduated from Stony Brook with a degree in Information Systems.
“I know what I gotta do for myself. Nobody is holding my hand. I’m not getting a whistle blown at me. It’s all on my own. If I don’t, the chances of me being unconscious on fight night go up drastically.”
When that Octagon door closes, it’s just Reyes, his opponent and the referee.
And the biggest difference between football and MMA becomes a cold, hard truth.
“It’s just you. Just you,” Reyes said. “In football, you’ve gotta do your job. I understand that. In this, it’s just you. Your margin for error is much smaller. And you mess up in this, you’re asleep. You mess up in football, they score a touchdown and you’re OK.”
Instead, it’s been Reyes rendering opponents unconscious in the cage.
His breakthrough moment came June 2, 2017, at LFA 13 at the Los Angeles-Burbank Marriott Convention Center in Burbank. After cracking Jordan Powell with some punches, Powell dared to laugh off Reyes’ strikes and showboat a bit.
And that’s when Reyes quickly crushed Powell with the head kick seen around the world. The knockout went viral, garnering millions of views online.
When Reyes walked into a bar with his family and friends after the fight, his knockout was already playing on ESPN’s SportsCenter.
Five days later, the UFC called and asked if he wanted to fight in 10 days.
“I was like, man, I’m on this wave. Might as well, and here I am,” Reyes said. “It’s been a whirlwind.”
In the ensuing 11 months in the UFC, Reyes delivered first-round finishes over Joachim Christensen (TKO via punches), Jeremy Kimball (submission via rear-naked choke) and Jared Cannonier (TKO via punches).
Being on the UFC 229 main card – just two fights before lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov defends his belt against Conor McGregor in the biggest fight in UFC history – is a far cry from his days immediately out of college doing construction and later working as a Technical Support Specialist at Oak Hills High.
Gone are the “What if?” thoughts about the NFL. Now he’s all about “What’s next?” in the UFC.
“I love playing sports. I love competing. I’ve been doing it my whole life and I still do it,” Reyes said. “And now I get to get paid for it, have a lifestyle where I don’t have a boss. I don’t have to answer to anyone and it’s such a blessing and I’ll literally fight for it.”
