Curtis Blaydes suffered a broken nose and a fractured orbital bone after his fight against Josh Hokit at UFC 327. MMA Fighting reported that Blaydes’ management team confirmed the injuries, following an initial report from MMA Junkie. The update came after Hokit’s unanimous decision win over Blaydes in one of the toughest fights on the card.
According to the report, both heavyweights were taken to a local Miami hospital after the matchup for precautionary reasons. Blaydes was later released and is expected to return to Colorado soon to begin recovery.
Blaydes still earned an extra $100,000 after he and Hokit picked up Fight of the Night honors. The two heavyweights combined for more than 350 landed strikes and over 640 thrown across three rounds, so the post-fight damage was not hard to understand.
Fight of the year?
📺 @paramountplus pic.twitter.com/K3UNHtoX0A
— UFC on Paramount+ (@UFConParamount) April 12, 2026
See the injury update below:
https://x.com/MikeBohn/status/2043360062719078436
The loss and injuries make this a tough spot for Curtis Blaydes
Hokit pushed the pace early and kept forcing exchanges. Blaydes had his moments and landed enough clean shots to keep the fight competitive, but all three judges still scored it 29-28 for Hokit.
That matters for Blaydes because he has spent years as one of the UFC’s most proven heavyweight contenders, consistently fighting high-level names near the top of the division. The loss dropped him to 2-3 over his last five fights, which makes this recovery period even more important once he is cleared to compete again.
The week had already gotten loud because Hokit arrived with plenty of attention after his verbal clash with Jiri Prochazka, which we covered in our earlier UFC 327 story. Blaydes still made him work for every minute, but he left Miami with a loss and a serious injury report.
