Dominick Reyes undergoes successful surgery on left knee

UFC light heavyweight contender Dominick Reyes recently underwent successful surgery on his left knee and is expected to make a full recovery.

Reyes announced himself through his social media that he underwent successful knee surgery on Thursday to repair the meniscus, a surgery that typically has someone on the bench for four-to-eight weeks. That’s not a huge amount of time on the sidelines, so it’s possible that if Reyes has a speedy recovery, he could even fight before the year is up.

Reyes (12-3) is the No. 5 ranked light heavyweight contender in the UFC. The 31-year-old American made his promotional debut in 2017 and quickly racked up six straight wins, including a brutal KO over former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman that earned Reyes his shot at former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. In one of the most controversial decisions of 2020, Reyes lost to Jones on the scorecards, but Jones later vacated his title and Reyes ended up fighting Jan Blachowicz for the vacant belt, losing via knockout. Reyes then suffered another knockout loss to Jiri Prochazka back in May.

With three straight losses, it’s clear that Reyes needs to get back into the win column the next time we see him step inside the Octagon. Considering he is still a top-10 ranked fighter in the division, another big win over a top contender and Reyes will maintain his spot just below the light heavyweight division’s elite. While three straight losses is never a good thing, to be fair to Reyes, he lost to Jones — one of the greatest fighters of all time — plus Blachowicz, the current champ, and Prochazka, potentially a future champion. There’s no shame in those losses, and it shows that Reyes’ losing streak isn’t as bad as it first appears. Then again, if he wants to fight for the belt again, it’s time to win another fight.

Who do you want to see Dominick Reyes fight next whenever he is able to fight again?