Video
Original Description
UFC Live’s Dan Hellie, Paul Felder and Robert Whittaker preview the #UFCPerth light heavyweight main event between Carlos Ulberg and Dominick Reyes. Ulberg then speaks with McKenzie Pavacich about his first main event in the Octagon and sharing the experience with his City Kickboxing teammates that are also on the card.
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Video Transcript
Let's take a look at the light
heavyweight ranking since that will be
the main event here in Perth on
Saturday. You have Mamemed Uncle and
Alex Pada of course who are going to be
going at it for the light heavyweight
title next week. Saturday here in Perth.
It's number three against number seven
and Reyes. Olberg a 2:1 favorite over
Reyes on Saturday night. Primarily
because all he's done over the last four
years is win and look really good doing
it. He's looked unbelievable. And
honestly, I think he's gotten a little
bit faster. He has that real city
kickboxingesque
style about him that they're all known
for. Very big on counter fighting, very
big on lateral movement, moving away,
setting you up to think you're
comfortable coming inside and then
finishing you the way he does. What I
love to see in Berg is that once contact
is made, he unloads and he has volume
and he has power. That is my biggest
fear for Reyes coming into this fight.
Yeah, I I I just think the kicking game
and you talked about the city kickboxing
style and you can tell it's been
developed because there are guys out
there that are always trying to take
them down, always trying to close the
distance and they're just masterful at
that. The faints, the way they use their
front kicks up the middle and the round
kicks and then like Robert said, as soon
as they have you hurt and they think
there's a chance to get you out of
there, they jump on you.
And and Reyes on the other side has been
through the wars. That fight with Jon
Jones, a lot of people think he won that
fight, should have been the champion.
You have Oldberg coming in fighting in a
title fight, a five round fight for the
first time in his career. Reyes has been
there. He has done that before. And oh,
by the way, he's coming in having won
three in a row.
Yeah, he's now back with that confidence
that we saw when he was originally on
that win streak that got him to that
title fight. The man has got really
crisp boxing. He's got fantastic
footwork. He's just an athlete, period.
When you talk about Dominic Reyes and
again we talked about it with Carlos
Alberg having that killer instinct.
Dominic Reyes also has that and we've
seen that in the last three fights to
come back from that losing streak that
he was getting finished on to bounce
back and then rattle off three finishes
in a row against tough opponents and
they're only getting tougher and now he
gets to face a young guy in Carlos
Olberg who's also surging. It's just a
fantastic main event through and through
but he is getting better I feel. I feel
like he's the the Reyes that came into
the fight against Jones is the one we're
seeing today. Maybe a better version
because his aggressive forward style
boxing is what made him so dangerous.
Those those slips, those rolls, that
tight fighting from a South stance, that
can't be done hesitant. That can't be
done without the confidence to just make
you miss a little bit. Find your
openings, find your shots. And that's
the race we're going to see on the
weekend.
Yeah. And that's what he says, right?
I'm not just back, but I'm back and I'm
better than I was before. Reyes has been
a great comeback story when you really
look at his situation. When you look at
the numbers comparing these two,
Blackjack Carlos Oldberg and Dominic
Reyes, uh they both bring a lot of power
to the table, a lot of intelligence to
the table. You know, Rey has snapped out
of that funk by winning three in a row,
starting with that win over Dustin
Jacobe, injecting himself and back into
the light heavyweight title
conversation, but he's going to have his
hands full with Bberg, who has been just
about as good as anyone in the division.
The Black Jag is with McKenzie now.
Thanks so much, you guys. Well, Carlos,
first main event for you. I'm curious to
know how you would describe this week
and the buildup to this fight in
comparison to some of your last.
Yeah, surreal. I I managed like honestly
just like being here, it all it all
seems like home. But um heading to the
beach and doing things like that just
kind of just centers me and um and and
also just having the team here, it also
just makes me feel like um this is the
time. This is it. Um I'm meant to be
here. Uh now that we've done the open
workout which is my first the now this
now the um the press uh which is my
first done that tick that off now. So
that's all done. I'm happy with it.
Yeah. Now we just get to the fun part,
the weight cutting. Um and you get to do
this whole fight week with your
teammates at City Kickboxing. I think
there's there's five of you on this card
if not more. And I know that there are a
lot traveling to watch as well. How
special is it not only in the gym but on
fight day throughout fight week to have
so many of your teammates here with you?
Yeah, it is special. It just it gives us
a bit more confidence, a bit more uh
yeah, a bit more more to ride off. Um
you know, we all we all keep each other
sharp um mentally or just spiritually
just being within within each other's
space and um sharing each other's
sharing a meal with each other is quite
nice at night and for dinner. And then
um and we give each other a lot of
grief. I don't we give each other a lot.
So, um it's nice to have that uh in
between uh the team.
It's a lonely sport. So, when you can do
it with someone who's alongside you
doing the same thing, suffering in the
same ways, has the same goals in mind, I
think it kind of rises the the whole
ship. You know what I'm trying to say
here?
Yeah. I think what we what we do is we
just bring like the rugby culture uh or
our Kiwi culture into this. Just a bit
of a Yeah. a bit of banter between each
other and that's cool. you have a I mean
I don't do too much other bans but I
like to listen and have a laugh at at
some of the guys. So um uh yeah yeah
it's nice
makes the whole week a little lighter
and this is a pivotal time for the light
heavyweight division these next two
weeks and the outcomes of them kind of
really define the path forward. So what
do you have to do in order to ensure
that you're the next title challenger? I
go in there and I moren I do the dance
and I do the dance and um yeah I get the
finish.