‘I Actually Need To Heal’: Dominick Reyes Recovering From KO Loss Before Returning To Octagon

Dominick Reyes wants to be back in business, but he also wants to take care of his health and fully recover from the previous brain damage.

At UFC Vegas 25 in May, Reyes, a former title challenger, and newly raised contender Jiri Prochazka shared the octagon in the main event where they exchanged some vast punches and served significant damage to each other. Prochazka served a brutal spinning elbow, which left Reyes with a brain injury.

“It was like two months just to heal my superficial injuries as well as brain injuries and things like that. Then I had knee surgery, so I had to take another month or two for that. So it’s been about four months off. Really not that much considering the damage that was done,” Reyes told MMA reporter James Lynch.

“…It’s like bro, I actually need to heal. This is real s—t.”

Reyes was undefeated before fighting for the belt against legendary Jon Jones.

He nearly managed to dethrone Jones, but it was a close fight.

After Jones vacated his title, Reyes k shared the cage with Jan Blachowicz but suffered a knockout loss for the vacated light heavyweight title.

His latest bout was against Prochazka, and now he is on a three-fight losing streak in the UFC.

“I want to be able to talk to my grandkids when I’m older,” he continued. “It’s part of the process, man. I could be a macho man about it and be like, ‘Nah I’m good, I’m in the gym.’ Nah, man.”

“I’m not fighting until at the earliest February, mid-February. I gotta take care of my brain a little bit here,” he added.