LAS VEGAS – Dominick Reyes knows his UFC 310 opponent Anthony Smith has been going through some personal struggles, but his sympathy stops when the cage door closes.
Reyes (13-4 MMA, 7-4 UFC) meets Smith (37-20 MMA, 13-10 UFC) on the prelims of the final pay-per-view event of the year at T-Mobile Arena (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN2, Hulu, ESPN+). It’s a big fight for both former title challengers, but they enter with different mindsets. Reyes is eager to keep his momentum going, while Smith is just itching to just punch someone in the face.
Before Reyes took the mic at Wednesday’s media day, Smith sat in the same seat and expressed his desire to simply get in a fight and live with the result. This is partially due to a recent untimely death of a close friend and longtime coach Scott Morton. To put it bluntly, Smith said, “I don’t give a f*ck about winning.”
Reyes understands what his opponent is going through, but as someone who is coming off a victory that snapped a four-fight skid filled with hard lessons, “The Devastator” enters this fight focused on remaining in the win column.
“I came back against (Dustin) Jacoby, I was patient, I was smart, I was sharp – I was a veteran,” Reyes told reporters. “I’m a veteran now. Cool thing about it is I didn’t have to go through 40 fights to figure these things out. It’s three losses against the top guys in the world and I got to learn these lessons and now I’m here. I feel really, really good. I’m ready to keep climbing.”
The tough road started with a loss to former light heavyweight champ Jon Jones at UFC 247. Although some believe Reyes won that fight, the official judges did not. He went on to lose to two more former title holders in Jan Blachowicz and Jiri Prochazka. Ryan Spann was the fourth consecutive loss. Reyes then got on track in June with a first-round finish of Jacoby, and looks to close out 2024 with another victory.
“I’m expecting to win, that’s it,” Reyes said about his matchup with Smith. “I don’t care how it happens, but I’m expecting to win. I sympathize with a lot that Anthony is going through right now, but not my chair, not my problem.
“I got to handle my business for me and my family. However it all falls out, lays out, however God decides it’s going to go, that’s how it’s going to go.”
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This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Dominick Reyes sympathizes with UFC 310 opponent Anthony Smith’s hardship, but ‘not my problem’
