Top-five ranked contender Curtis Blaydes shared some details regarding the injury that took him out of the UFC Sao Paulo headliner.
After seeing his three-fight win streak snapped at the hands of Sergei Pavlovich in April, ‘Razor’ was determined to bounce back last month in a main event clash with Jailton Almeida. Unfortunately, Blaydes was forced to withdraw from the contest after a lingering ankle injury became a bigger problem than he initially suspected.
Speaking with James Lynch in a MiddleEasy exclusive interview, Blaydes provided background on when and how the injury occurred.
“I rolled my ankle during a wrestling workout,” Blades said. “It was a very bad sprain. I hurt it back in June. Took off for two weeks. Hopped back in and never really allowed it to heal. I thought it would just heal on its own, but I’m getting older. That’s not how the body works anymore. It took me till the first week of October to realize that I’m not hurt, I’m injured. That’s why we called off the fight.
He continued, “I don’t need surgery and I know everyone’s like, ‘If you don’t need surgery, you should fight.’ It hurts and if it hurts, I can’t be the athlete I need to be. I’m not gonna go out there, be half of who I am, and possibly take an L. Then go up there on the mic with everyone asking me what happened. ‘Well, my ankle was hurt.’ Nobody wants to hear that. I’m not going out there until I’m healthy.”
As for when fight fans can expect to see him back inside the Octagon, Blaydes is confident it will be in 2024, but he’s not comfortable with setting a specific timeline for his return.
“Don’t really have an update,” Blaydes added. “Ankles are weird and I don’t want to rush it and give out timelines. When you give out timelines, it adds expectations. I want to enter 2024 healthy and that’s my main focus. I don’t have any timeline beyond that.”
Over the weekend, fans inside the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden, bore witness to the rise of a new interim heavyweight champion. In the UFC 295 co-main event, Tom Aspinall scored a shocking 69-second knockout of Sergei Pavlovich to claim his first title with the Las Vegas-based promotion.
“Going in, I did have Aspinall winning though I didn’t think it would happen in the fashion that it did happen,” Blaydes said of Aspinall’s big win at MSG. “I thought he would [outstrike] him and just be a smarter fighter. I expected Sergei to be a lot more aggressive. That was one of the biggest things… He allowed Aspinall to get bouncing. Get moving and gave him space.
“That’s one of the differences between fighting at The APEX and using a standard
Octagon. A lot more space. A lot harder to be aggressive when there are angles you can take. I think that was the beginning of the end when he allowed Aspinall the freedom of movement.”
Aspinall and Pavlovich were paired up when the event’s original headliner, Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic, was scrapped after ‘Bones’ suffered a pectoral tear weeks ahead of fight night. The bout is expected to be rescheduled with the winner moving on to face Aspinall in a title unification bout sometime in 2024.
Curtis Blaydes Comments on Jones vs. Aspinall, Francis Ngannou, and USADA’s Split with the UFC
However, many fight fans remain unconvinced that Tom Aspinall will ever have the opportunity to fight either of them, suggesting that both Jones and Miocic will retire from the sport once they’ve cashed in on their heavyweight superfight.
Asked if he sees Aspinall getting the chance to fight Jon Jones or Stipe Miocic in the future, Blaydes said:
“Nobody knows. The only people that know are Jon and Stipe,” Blaydes continued. “Even if Jon told his family, I wouldn’t even believe them because he could change his mind at the drop of a dime. Does he need the money? I don’t think so. Does he need to prove anything to establish his legacy? I don’t think so and the same goes for Stipe.”
Following Aspinall’s impressive finish over a fighter with six straight first-round knockouts, many believe he’s the man who can finally dethrone Jon Jones. Curtis Blaydes doesn’t necessarily disagree with that, but he believes that in the heavyweight division, anyone can beat anyone on any given night.
“It’s heavyweight,” Blaydes said. “Anybody can beat anybody. Sergei can beat Jon. I can beat Jon. It’s whoever gets hit in the face first. That’s really all it is. Regardless of the skill, technique, experience, and all that, at heavyweight there is one equalizer; power. Power beats skill. Power beats speed. Power at heavyweight is everything and every heavyweight has power. It’s a prerequisite.”
Switching gears, Blaydes was asked for his thoughts on Francis Ngannou’s performance against WBC heavyweight world boxing champion Tyson Fury last month in Riyadh.
“I was impressed that he was able to stay on the feet for so long without a knockout and still put together combos and move his feet,” Blaydes admitted. “He moved a lot better than I thought. He took it seriously, which is what you’d expect, but he grew in his camp and a lot of guys his age, they’re not able to grow anymore. They just are who they are. He grew. I thought he won also, but you know how it is with boxing.”
Another hot topic in the MMA community has been the UFC’s sudden split with the United States Anti-Doping Agency. Sharing his personal experience with USADA and his take on the controversial break-up, ‘Razor’ said:
“I had a fine experience [with USADA]. They did their job. They were definitely on it with the random drug tests. I got a lot of those. A lot of random 5 a.m. knocks at the door so hopefully whoever they’re bringing in to do testing, they pick slightly different hours. I would prefer not to be up at five in the morning, but I didn’t have anything bad to say about USADA. I think they did their job.”
Curtis Blaydes has a solid 12-4 record inside the Octagon, his losses coming against three of the division’s most feared competitors; Francis Ngannou, Derrick Lewis, and Sergei Pavlovich. ‘Razor’ will look to get back into the win column and secure himself a shot at UFC gold when he makes his highly anticipated return next year.
Watch the full exclusive interview below:
Craig Pekios
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