Dominick Reyes says he went into a dark place after his UFC 253 TKO loss to Jan Blachowicz due to social media and trolls.
Entering the fight, Reyes was considered the uncrowned champion as many thought he beat Jon Jones. However, that overconfidence ended up costing him as Blachowicz came out strong and scored a TKO win.
After the loss, Reyes went silent on the MMA community and even stopped using social media. According to the two-time light heavyweight challenger, he says the toxicity of social media forced him to stop looking at it.
“It’s such a toxic environment,” Reyes said at media day (via MMAJunkie). “It’s so toxic, and I realized that, but I was reading all the comments and getting all involved and replying back to people and replying back to the trolls that were sending me messages. Dude, that’s so not good. That’s super bad for your mental health, especially in a sport like this, where mental health is 80 percent of the battle.
“If you’re not mentally there, if you’re not 100 percent ready to go, then man, you’re facing a very uphill battle, and that’s what I dealt with last fight, and I’m very aware of all of it now,” Reyes continued. “It was like a veil got pulled, and I got to see the other side for how it really is. I take everything for what it is now, and I just enjoy the little moments. It’s the little things.”
Due to the losses, Dominick Reyes says it forced him to look at things a different way and he says that ended up being a blessing as a disguise. He found a different light and is now back and ready to compete again.
Reyes is set to return to the Octagon in the main event of UFC Vegas 25 on May 1 against Jiri Prochazka. It could very well be a crossroads fight for Reyes as losing three in a row could put him in a do-or-die spot. If he wins, however, he could be in a number one contender spot as he looks to get a third crack at UFC gold.
What do you make of Dominick Reyes saying he went into a dark place after his UFC 253 loss to Jan Blachowicz?
