Retired UFC light-heavyweight fighter Jimi Manuwa talked about Jon Jones vs. Dominick Reyes, saying that he believes Blachowicz deserves the next shot more.
The English fighter has been with the UFC since 2012. In his time in the Octagon, Manuwa has amassed notable victories over the likes of Kyle Kingsbury, Cyrille Diabaté, Ryan Jimmo, Jan Błachowicz, Ovince Saint Preux and Corey Anderson.
Manuwa last fought inside the Octagon in June of last year, where he lost to the rising light-heavyweight prospect Aleksandar Rakić at UFC Fight Night 153. He announced his retirement from the sport of MMA not long after that fight.
He recently did an interview with BJPENN.com, where he revealed that since Jon Jones returned, the light-heavyweight division has “come alive”. He said that the division was “stale”, while Daniel Cormier was the champion:
“I think the division has come alive in the last year. For a couple of years, it was a bit stale when ‘DC’ was the champ. Now that Jones has come back and became champ he has been giving all these newcomers a shot,” Manuwa said. “I think it is alive with Reyes and all these new contenders. The division is alive now.”
When asked about who he thought won the contest between Jon Jones and Dominick Reyes at UFC 247 he said the following:
“I thought Jon Jones won the fight. Jones has been the champion for 10 years and you can’t try and claim the belt that way,” Manuwa explained. “You have to be decisive and Reyes didn’t do enough in the rounds to win. I think it was 2-2 into the fifth and Jones won that round showing his championship pedigree.”
Since he doesn’t believe that Reyes was “robbed”, he says that in his opinion Blachowicz should be given the next title shot. Manuwa admitted that he is the most excited for a rematch between Jones and Santos:
“I think I would give Blachowicz a shot but none of these fighters have set it on fire. Blachowicz had a nice knockout over Anderson which is the only reason why I’d give it to him,” he said. “Reyes had a close and great fight against Jones but it wasn’t something that I wanted to see run back. Santos is the most exciting fighter in the division, so maybe Santos gets it when he returns?”
UFC president Dana White has already stated that he believes Dominick Reyes deserves the rematch against Jon Jones. It was also reported that UFC are currently working on putting that fight together.
This article first appeared on CLOSEDGUARDMEDIA.com on 19th March, 2020.
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