Dominick Reyes and Jan Blachowicz will meet this weekend in the co-main event of UFC 253, with the winner becoming the new UFC light heavyweight champion.
There are some that may question the legitimacy of whoever wins the gold at UFC 253, but Reyes doesn’t seem very concerned about that.
“To be completely honest I could give a (expletive) less what anybody says about my belt,” Reyes said at the UFC 253 media day (via Mike Bohn & John Morgan of MMA Junkie). “I’ll have a gold belt and I’ll have the money to match. So F out of here with that. … It’s another opportunity to get my belt. I’m here to claim what’s mine.”
Only two fighters have held the UFC light heavyweight championship in the last nine-plus years, with those fighters being Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier. Reyes also believes that he can get a stoppage win over Blachowicz to win the light heavyweight strap.
“I feel like I can make a stoppage for sure,” Reyes said. “But at the end of the day all that matters to me is to get my hand raised. We’ll see. Sometimes you give a guy everything you’ve got and you can’t finish him. The goal of every fight is to finish the fight, sometimes you can’t finish them.”
UFC 253 takes place on Saturday, September 26 from Fight Island in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi with Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which streams live on ESPN+ pay-per-view.
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