I’ll confess that I didn’t have high hopes for Carlos Ulberg vs. Dominick Reyes, the singular fight of importance at UFC Perth.
There were reasons for my pessimism. Both Ulberg and Reyes are knockout artists, certainly, but they’re also counter punchers. Time and time again, such collisions of men who do their best work on the back foot prove to be staring contests with the occasional low kick. Barnburners between counter strikers are are. We’ve seen Ulberg win via narrow margins in the past, and given
Reyes’ history with getting knocked out, some hesitance on his side would be understandable.
Generally, that’s been the problem with Ulberg’s struggle to build momentum: for every knockout win, there’s an uninspired decision. Even though he’s the only new face in the Light Heavyweight rankings, he’s been a continual afterthought in the title mix, and that’s despite his extensive win streak. Prior to UFC Perth, it was widely assumed that the victor of UFC 320’s Jiri Prochazka vs. Khalil Rountree would be the recipient of the next title shot. The bout is on the card just a couple notches below the main event title fight of Magomed Ankalaev vs. Alex Pereira 2 for a reason!
That’s no longer the case.
From the first bell, Ulberg was perfect at UFC Perth. At most, Reyes landed a handful of glancing low kicks, and not even those scored with the venom of Ulberg’s own chopping kicks. The former professional kickboxer found his timing quickly, and Reyes was left playing catch up. When a fighter cannot connect with their long range kicks, how can he hope to land with his much shorter punches?
It’s not enough just to make your opponent miss, however. Ulberg put pressure on Reyes by carefully picking his shots on a few occasions: a couple hard low kicks, a few stiff jabs, a right hand or two to the bread basket. These are low risk, relatively non-committal strikes, but they let the judges and Reyes know who was controlling the action in a low output round.
Reyes was forced to act. He couldn’t just hang back and lose a tepid fight, not with so much on the line. As soon as he did really step forward, he ate a two-punch counter combination and was down for the count.
Perfection.
In just about four minutes, Ulberg picked up on Reyes’ timing, put his back to the metaphorical fence, and then mercilessly shut off the lights the first time Reyes tried to push back. Ulberg led the dance every step of the way until his opponent was asleep — that’s what elite fighters do. This was exactly the memorable win “Black Jag” needed to push his name into the mix, and he should be expected to reap the reward of a title shot.
Consider the circumstances: we’re talking about a knockout artist at Light Heavyweight, a relatively entertaining finisher in a weak division. Why wouldn’t a nine-fight win streak not be enough? The only fighters who get sidelined after nine straight wins are the Movsar Evloevs of the world, the ultra talented (boring) wrestlers who have the misfortune of fighting in a talent-rich division.
Prochazka or Rountree will have to go out and earn a third straight win, because Ulberg just made his own claim undeniable.
For complete UFC Perth results and play-by-play, click here.
