Preview: UFC on ESPN 57 ‘Cannonier vs. Imavov’

Light Heavyweights

Dustin Jacoby (19-8-1, 7-5-1 UFC) vs. #15 LHW | Dominick Reyes (12-4, 6-4 UFC)

ODDS: Jacoby (-238), Reyes (+195)

Will Reyes ever turn things around? It has now been over four years since Reyes was considered the uncrowned king of the light heavyweight division. After a quick rise through the 205-pound ranks, “The Devastator” had seemingly done enough to beat Jon Jones in what wound up as a controversial split decision loss. Once Jones vacated the belt shortly thereafter, the thought was that Reyes would subsequently lord over the division; instead, he hasn’t won a fight since. Jan Blachowicz and Jiri Prochazka each broke apart Reyes’ counter-heavy game in different fashions—Blachowicz by staying steady, Prochazka through sheer wildness and brute force. Both were forgivable losses in a general sense, particularly since Reyes did well against Prochazka before getting knocked out. However, the three years following the Prochazka loss have resulted in nothing but terrible vibes. Reyes’ lone fight in that time was a shockingly quick and brutal knockout loss to Ryan Spann, and a life-threatening injury has kept him out of action for the last few months. Things are going poorly enough that it seems unlikely Reyes will ever recapture his championship-level form, so the next step is to see what level of success he can still find on the UFC roster. To that end, Jacoby is a clear step back in competition while still serving as a tough litmus test.

Jacoby has had a long and winding road to a successful UFC career, including a mostly forgotten first stint with the promotion that ended after two fights in 2012. Jacoby went the journeyman route for a while before falling into a solid kickboxing career, eventually transitioning back to mixed martial arts and returning to the UFC in 2020. Jacoby went undefeated in his first seven fights and showed a nice progression while doing so, slowly rediscovering his comfort with the chaos of mixed martial arts. Even so, it does seem like Jacoby has hit a ceiling at the fringes of the UFC’s rankings after three losses in his last four fights. Jacoby has been a tough out in all three of those losses—he arguably should have won his split decision loss to Khalil Rountree—but they have also shown his lack of elite-level horsepower. He can still shellack an overmatched opponent, but top-flight athletes like Alonzo Menifield have been able to win rounds with a few big shots that outweigh Jacoby’s more consistent work. To that end, this is a somewhat forgiving matchup for Reyes at this point in his career, as Jacoby might be the least reliable knockout threat among the UFC’s Top 20 or so light heavyweights. With that said, Jacoby does still knock opponents out, and given how things have been going for Reyes, it seems like the former title challenger is going to eat a ton of offense early. The pick is Jacoby via first-round knockout.

Jump To »
Cannonier vs. Imavov
Jacoby vs. Reyes
Rosas Jr. vs. Turcios
Ferreira vs. Stoltzfus
Marquez vs. Reese
Baeza vs. Soriano
The Prelims