Jon Jones not concerned about allegations of intentional eyepokes, says Dominick Reyes is distracted

Dominick Reyes recently spoke out on how the Jon 'Bones' Jones intentionally eyepokes his opponents during fights and the reigning UFC light heavyweight champion addressed the comments, saying that if the undefeated challenger is concerned with the eyepokes, it's only detrimental for him.

Speaking to MMA Fighting, Jones said that if Reyes' focus is not on the task at hand but at other things like eyepokes ahead of the pair's main event clash at UFC 247, it will only benefit the former.

“I fight how I fight. I grab for hands a lot, and over the years, I’ve coincidentally landed a few eyepokes. But if you guys think I trained poking people in the eyes, think about how ridiculous that is. We fight with our fingers open, and I can be a very reachy fighter sometimes, and it happens.”

Reyes said that he trained to avoid eyepokes during the fight and also claimed the referee must come down strongly while dealing with intentional eyepokes during fights.

“Listen, the rule is, we’re taking a point away. That’s the rule. If he’s going poke me in the eyes, now I’m compromised, (and) that gives him a huge advantage. If I can’t see, if half my vision’s gone, that’s point worthy.”

Jones has repeatedly denied allegations of intentionally eyepoking his opponents to blind sight them and according to the champ, sometimes it distracts him when referees constantly keep reminding him to keep his outstretched fingers in check.

“In my last (Alexander) Gustafsson fight, the referee kept saying, ‘Watch your fingers, Jon!’ My fingers weren’t even out, and he kept yelling at me, which was a major distraction."