Dominick Reyes shares how Muhammad Ali inspired his first win in five years at UFC Louisville

Former UFC light heavyweight title challenger Dominick Reyes seized the opportunity to snap his previous losing skid in Muhammad Ali’s home city.

Reyes defeated Dustin Jacoby in the UFC Louisville co-main event on Saturday. The first-round knockout over Jacoby was his first MMA victory since knocking out former UFC middleweight champ Chris Weidman in Oct. 2019.

Since a narrow loss to Jon Jones at UFC 247, Reyes has been searching for answers in his fighting career. A slew of brutal knockout losses led some to question whether or not the light heavyweight standout would ever return to the Octagon.

More than four years after the Jones loss, Reyes earned one of the biggest wins of his career. While fighting in Louisville, Reyes got to embrace the history that Ali created and used it to fuel him to get back in the win column.

Dominick Reyes compares fighting style to Muhammad Ali

In a recent appearance on The MMA Hour, Reyes explained his added motivation to snap his losing skid in Louisville.

“I took so much energy from that, so much power from that,” Reyes said. “Going to the Muhammad Ali Center and learning about his entire journey, the way he viewed the world, what he did to change the world…the last arena his body was ever in, was the arena I fought in, and that was a huge honor for me…

“Wow, I get to fight here? And my fighting style, which I believe is similar to his. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, that’s how I fight. Everything just lined up.”

Ali is arguably the greatest boxer of all time and is widely regarded as one of the most influential athletes in sports history. He passed away in 2016 from septic shock stemming from a respiratory illness.

Reyes returned to the form that made him one of the most dangerous fighters on the planet earlier in his MMA career. After defeating Jacoby, Reyes squeaked back into the 205lb title conversation.

Reyes’s UFC comeback was poetic, similar to some of the bounce-back wins that Ali amassed during his legendary career.