Dominic Reyes will take on Dustin Jacoby in a Light Heavyweight contest at UFC Louisville.
Although no main event has been confirmed at the time of writing, the Light Heavyweight contest is a welcome addition to the card which was already set to feature, Raul Rosas Jr., Thiago Moises & Ludovit Klein on June 8.
The bout marks a chance of Jacoby to break into the rankings whilst simultaneously looking to return to the form he was in when he first signed with the promotion.
After joining the UFC for the second time, on the back of the 2020 season of Contender Series, the American competed for the promotion just two months later, when he secured a first round stoppage over Justin Ledet. His unbeaten run then continued throughout 2021 with victories against Darren Stewart and John Allen, and a split decision draw against Ion Cutelaba.
Clearly enjoying being active, he made the walk three times in 2022 as well. With wins against Michal Oleksiejcuk and Da Un Jung, setting up a showdown against Khalil Rountree Jr. The pair went back and forth over the three rounds, with Rountree ultimately halting the hype building around Jacoby, with a split decision.
His three contests in 2023 saw 36 year old only have his hand raised once. His first contest of the year was against the unbeaten Azamat Murzakanov. The Russian shut him down in each and every round, and handed Jacoby his second loss in as many bouts. He then beat Kennedy Nzechukwu just four months later to return to winning ways, before picking up his fifth promotional loss to Alonzo Menifield at UFC 296.
The return to the octagon for Reyes has been a long time coming. ‘The Devastator’ has not made the walk since 2022, with the Jacoby bout being his third scheduled one of 2024.
After signing with the UFC in 2017, Reyes built an incredible 6 fight win streak to ultimately set up a Light Heavyweight championship bout against long time champion, Jon Jones.
In what has been argued as the closest anyone has came to beating Jones, Reyes went the distance with and gave a great showing of himself in the process. However, this was the start of a poor run of form.
Reyes was then stopped for the first time in his career against Jan Blachowicz at UFC 253. After 8 months away, the 34 year old returned and faces the formidable Jiri Prochazka. Reyes was caught with a brutal spinning elbow in the second round and was instantly rendered unconscious.
Following his third successive loss, the former title challenger then took an extended break, returning to the cage 16 months later. Unfortunately for Reyes, he was handed yet another defeat at the hands of Ryan Spann in the very first round.
Reyes had been scheduled to face Carlos Ulberg twice this year but with both fights falling through, he’ll now look to defend his number 14 ranking agains Jacoby.
