Curtis Blaydes is very realistic when it comes to his spot in the heavyweight rankings and what it will take to eventually earn a shot at UFC gold.
Despite consistently competing against top-10 ranked competition, the 31-year-old contender is rarely mentioned in the title conversation, even with a 6-1 record in his past seven fights including three knockouts along the way. Blaydes has lost two fights to UFC champion Francis Ngannou, but he was not mentioned in the title conversation after the promotion suggested an interim title fight in 2022..
This might be irritating for a lot fighters but you shouldn’t include Blaydes.
“Maybe it’s because I’m a pessimist, but I don’t expect it to be easy,” Blaydes said on The Fighter vs. The Writer. “I expect it to be hard. Anything worth having is going to be hard. Getting a title shot is worth having, so I expect it to be a long, hard road, and this is part of that road.”
There are many names in the history who became so involved in being champions that they were unable to focus on the tasks at hand.
With a showdown scheduled against Tom Aspinall in the UFC London main event on Saturday, Blaydes refuses to walk down that same road, which is why he’s just worried about getting a win with the knowledge that a title fight is almost certainly not next for him.
“Maybe because of my wrestling roots,” Blaydes stated. “I’m used to going to a tournament at 8 a.m. and you don’t know what your seed is going to be. You might be the No. 1 seed, the No. 5 seed, the No. 16 seed. And eventually, you hope to be in the finals, and if it’s four rounds, eventually you’re going to have to go against a good guy. That’s how I think about this. This is just one more tournament. You’ll eventually have to face good men along the way.
“I never understood, especially in boxing, people avoid tough fights. You have to fight all of your competitors if you are to become the best. As I am in the top 5, I have been there since 2018.. It’s not easy to win. This is what I expected. I expect Aspinall, and after this, I expect the winner of [Tai] Tuivasa and [Ciryl] Gane. After that, I expect most likely the interim title against either the winner of Stipe [Miocic] vs. Jon Jones.”
That perspective has helped Blaydes stay realistic with his expectations while quietly currying favor with the UFC, because the promotion has learned he’s a guy who will always step up when needed.
The latest example comes in his next fight as Blaydes travels to London to face Aspinall in his home country with a raucous crowd that will definitely give the former college wrestler a rude welcome.
” I don’t believe that I have ever turned down any fight,” Blaydes stated. “I get an opponent, I’m like OK. With the UFC, turning down fights isn’t a good idea. That starts to put you in a bad light. I didn’t even think about it. I don’t care. It was just that I wanted to be with a top five guy. I knew it had to be Aspinall, Gane, or Tuivasa — I would have been happy with any one of them. I would have gone back to Australia to fight Tuivasa. I would have gone to France to fight Gane. It doesn’t matter.
” People who believe that the venue has an effect on the outcome of a fight are wrong. I don’t think it matters at all. It’s who’s going to be able to implement their game plan first and most effectively, and that doesn’t have anything to do with the venue to me.”
Blaydes said he actually respects Aspinall for taking the fight against him because there’s a huge reward if he wins, but there’s also an inherent risk that goes along with facing a top-tier heavyweight who arguably has the best wrestling in the entire division.
The result could be Aspinall being planted on his back, eating punches from a ferocious ground-and-pound specialist like Blaydes, and there’s no amount of cheering that will help him out of that situation.
“This will be a test,” Blaydes said. I look forward to it. I look forward to proving to the world that I’m not just taking down bums. While I’m capable of taking down skilled men, I also believe that he is skilled. However, I think I can take him down when I need to
Blaydes enjoys being a spoiler in Aspinall’s country. It’s an experience that is unique and can’t replicated elsewhere.
Rather than avoid an unenviable situation, Blaydes plans to make the most out of the opportunity and send the London crowd home disappointed.
“That is my pettiness,” Blaydes stated. I like to travel and defeat the people everyone is trying to beat. That .”
gives me a great rush.
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