Dominick Reyes (14-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) secured his second consecutive win with a second-round TKO of Anthony Smith (38-21 MMA, 13-11 UFC) in their light heavyweight bout at UFC 310, held at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The fight took place on Saturday night during the televised prelim bouts on ESPN2.
Reyes (14-4) entered the bout ranked 14th in the light heavyweight division, while Smith, 36, was ranked slightly higher at No. 12. The 34-year-old Hesperia High School graduate beat Anthony Smith by stoppage.
Smith's Emotional State
Anthony Smith came into UFC 310 with a heavy heart, having recently lost his longtime friend and coach, Scott Morton. "Lionheart" couldn't hold back his tears during his walkout. Smith was also reeling from the loss of coach Scotty Morton, who passed away suddenly this year.
Prior to the fight, Smith said he didn't care about winning and that he planned on using the fight as an outlet to grieve. Reyes recalls Smith asking him to punch him during the fight so he could feel something. There was a point in the first round when he put his hands down and was just like, 'Punch me in the face.' And I obliged. That's my job. My job is to finish you and get you out of there whether you're going through something or not. If you're going to give me free shots or not, I'm going to hit you. We're professional fighters. It's a very dangerous game, you know. God bless Anthony."
"So, when I went in the cage - I haven't been around Anthony much in my life, but when I was in the cage with him, he was emotional, right? That's a dangerous man," Reyes said. "Like he said it. He's fighting for his friend, and he doesn't care about the outcome. He just wants to feel something."
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Reyes sympathizes with Smith but knew he had a job to do - especially after going through hardships of his own to put together his first winning streak since 2019."Losing someone is never easy," Reyes continued. "I've lost some really close people to me this year as well and it's terrible. I'm glad he got to come out and be the warrior that he is, this is his outlet. Like Cormier said, it's my job to not care."
"Anthony is a true warrior, and he's going to fight to the end. He wanted to fight to the end," Reyes told MMA Junkie and other reporters. "He needed to feel something tonight, whatever he's going through, but he kept moving. The ref said, 'Come on Anthony,' and he would move."
"My job is to win. My job is to go out there and give my best performance, and that's all I was focused on. So, whatever you're going through, when the door closes, it's war time."
Fight Highlights
Anthony Smith attempted a takedown early, but Reyes fended it off. An eye poke by Smith forced a momentary stoppage in the action. Referee Marc Goddard called a timeout two minutes into the first round after an unintentional eye poke to Reyes’ left eye. Reyes took some time, and Goddard asked if he would like to continue. Reyes quickly nodded yes.
Once Reyes’ eye recovered, the two got back to trading on the feet. With both were taking wild swings at each other, Smith landed a good right hand. Reyes answered by putting the pressure on Smith and fired an uppercut to left hand combination. Reyes then landed multiple consecutive jabs and left hands and Smith stuck out his tongue while retreating, inviting more strikes from Reyes.
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Once the action returned, Reyes landed a pair of thudding left kicks. Reyes took over the round in the final minute as the two exchanged punches. At one point, Smith dropped his hands, and Reyes unloaded a combination of punches, drawing blood from Smith’s nose.
Once again, Smith attempted a single-leg takedown early in the second round. In the second round, Smith tried pressing the action, shooting for a single leg takedown. But as he wrapped up the right leg, Reyes unloaded elbows and punches.
Reyes successfully defended the takedown and landed brutal elbows while Smith was holding onto the leg. The accumulation forced Smith to his knees, but he refused to let go of the leg and Reyes kept pounding away. Reyes dropped Smith with an elbow. Smith tried to keep wrestling his way out while Reyes kept throwing.
With “Lionheart” holding on for dear life, Reyes worked his way to the back and used the position to take a couple deep breaths before resuming his ground and pound. Reyes moved to half guard, and the punches and elbows continued until Goddard finally halted the action with 14 seconds remaining.
“I was landing some pretty hard elbows. He’s just a tough, tough competitor. You’re not going to put a guy out like that real easy. All respect to Anthony,” Reyes said.
Read also: Inside Anthony Smith's UFC Journey
Official Result: Dominick Reyes def. Smith by TKO (Ground and Pound) at 4:46 of Round 2.
Dominick Reyes vs Anthony Smith FULL FIGHT
Post-Fight Reactions
After the loss, a visibly emotional Anthony Smith took his gloves off and told Joe Rogan this was probably his last walk to the octagon. Smith, coming off a loss to Roman Dolidze in June at UFC 303, is now 38-21 in 59 professional MMA bouts.
As Reyes walked out, Smith shed tears while waiting inside the cage, as he thought about his coach Scott Morton, who died from a heart attack in November. Rogan spoke to Smith, who said that was “probably” his final fight.
“I don’t know how many times I can do this. I gotta do some thinking. I don’t know how many times I can do this without him,” Smith said.
“It feels great. There’s nothing like being in the win column. Nothing like climbing the ladder and having a little bit of job security,” Reyes said in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan. “The dark times make you stronger. They made me the man that I am today. You fall down, you get back up. You fall down, you get back up. That’s what it’s all about. I’m fighting with everything I’ve got for you guys. So thank you.”
Following UFC 310, CEO Dana White calls for retirement of multiple losing fighters. Dominick Reyes ended his year with a bang Saturday night at UFC 310. Dominick Reyes def. Smith, a near 60-fight veteran of the sport, had thrown a wrench in the works when he missed weight on Friday, by a pound and a half.
The Road to Redemption
In the span of 182 days, Reyes has added a pair of victories to his record. The Victorville native has now strung a pair of wins together after a four-match losing streak over the span of three years.
His last bout on June 8, as the co-main event of the UFC on ESPN 57 fight card, Reyes knocked out Dustin Jacoby in the first round to snap a streak of 1,695 days without a victory in the UFC octagon. Beating Jacoby gave Reyes his first victory since 2019, when he beat Chris Weidman. That performance landed him a title fight against Jon Jones in February 2020, which ended in a controversial decision. Many believe Reyes got the best of Jones that night, but the official scorecards said otherwise.
Following the Jones loss, Reyes suffered three more defeats all by finish - former title holders in Jan Blachowicz and Jiri Prochazka, as well as Ryan Spann. “That was huge, getting out of that slump,” recently said in an interview with UFC. “It's hard to describe in words. It was a perfect moment right there. I've had a few perfect moments. My debut being one of them, the Weidman fight, a bunch of fights, but this one was probably one of the most satisfying just because of all the adversity and pulling myself out of that hole.”
Reyes, a Hesperia High School graduate, who earned the 2007 Daily Press Football Defensive Athlete of the Year as a safety and earned a scholarship to Stony Brook University, has been fighting professionally since 2014. Reyes had aspirations of playing in the NFL after wrapping up his playing days at Stony Brook, where he became the school’s all-time leader in tackles with 259.