Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight kingpin Jon Jones will defend his throne against Dominick Reyes on February 2020.
UFC president Dana White told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto that the light heavyweight title showdown will headline the promotion’s pay-per-view event on February 8.
The fight card is set to take place at Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, with a women’s flyweight championship bout featuring Valentina Shevchenko and Kathlyn Chookagian serving as it co-headliner.
Jones is tied with Georges St-Pierre for the most title fight wins in the UFC history.
The fight against Reyes will be a perfect opportunity to surpass GSP’s record in that department.
He will also try to keep his three-fight winning streak alive that started since his return to active competition in December 2018.
The MMA great recaptured the 205-pound supremacy with a dominant win against Alexander Gustafsson in their rematch.
2019 saw Jones defending his light heavyweight belt twice, defeating Anthony Smith and Thiago Santos respectively.
Beating His Ass
Earlier this month, ‘Bones’ already announced that Reyes is next for the light heavyweight title shot.
“Just finished a coaches meeting studying Dominick and Cory’s career.”
“Established Dominicks definitely the more dangerous fighter. Beating his ass next.”
In a separate tweet, the JacksonWink MMA standout defended his camp’s decision to pick Reyes over Corey Anderson.
“OSP KOs Anderson but gets dominated by Dominic. Is it safe to say I chose the toughest possible matchup at 205?” he wrote.
Reyes was last seen in the main event of UFC Boston, giving former middleweight champion, Chris Weidman, a rude welcome on his light heavyweight debut.
He remains undefeated in six UFC outings after an emphatic first-round finish of Weidman.
The contender out of Southern California now holds a 12-0 win-loss slate in his professional MMA career, where seven of these wins came by way of knockout.
Fake Respect
The light heavyweight pair have started the build-up to their fight after going back and forth on social media.
Jones slammed Reyes for showing fake respect and vowed to pick him apart in their upcoming clash.
“You started this whole thing talking about party favors and now you’re going to show this fake ass respect?”
“Serious question Dominic, what exactly is so next generation about you or your fighting style?”
“You’re a new name, that’s the only thing different about you.”
“There’s absolutely nowhere in his game I’m intimidated. He’s dangerous in the first round, after that I’ll figure him out and pick them apart,” Jones said.
Reyes responded, saying “This is gonna be fun.”
Will Jon Jones retain his light heavyweight title? Is Dominick Reyes the one to dethrone the MMA GOAT?
Share to us your early predictions in the comment section below.
(Featured Image Source: Instagram/ Dominick Reyes and Jon Jones)