If all goes well with Brock Lesnar’s latest tango with United States Anti Doping Agency (USADA), he will be facing current Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier in early 2019.
That isn’t the best of news for all of the legit contenders in the division, including Curtis Blaydes, who will now have to wait close to a year before he even gets the opportunity to fight for the title. And that’s okay, as “Razor” is willing to wait as long as it takes to get what he feels is rightfully his.
But when it comes down to it, Curtis feels the promotion doesn’t really want him to be the face of the 265-pound weight class, as his fighting style isn’t the most appealing.
“I’m willing to wait, because I have this feeling that the UFC – they don’t really want me to have the belt,” Blaydes said in an interview with MMA Junkie. “Because I don’t have the most exciting – my style isn’t the most fan-friendly.”
“So I feel they would take every opportunity to not give me a title shot because they know my wrestling is the x-factor. If I have to, I will just take a guy down and ground and pound him for three rounds. Which, they’re right, is not the most exciting version of fighting. But it is the most effective, especially going against the heavyweights I have to go against,” he added.
If need be, Blaydes will take on and defeat the next contender up. Still, he feels even if he keeps winning, UFC will still likely give the title fight to someone else.
“So me taking another opponent and me winning, I don’t think they would even care about that. I feel like even if I called out Stipe (Miocic) and I won, they would probably give it to Cain Velasquez or, who knows, maybe even Jon Jones or maybe Junior Dos Santos,” he added. “There’s so many other guys that I know the UFC would rather have as champion of the heavyweights.”
As far as changing his style to please the public or increase his odds of getting an invite to the big dance, that simply isn’t going to happen.
“I’m always going to do what I do best,” Blaydes said. “If the UFC doesn’t like it, or if the fans don’t like it, I guess the only option is for them to release me. Because I’m going to keep doing what I have to do to win. I’m not going to risk brain injuries to put on a show for people I don’t know,” he added, citing Max Holloway’s recent woes as a result of standing and banging.
“I feel like what happened to (featherweight champion) Max Holloway is what happens when you like to stand and bang. He had to pull out of UFC 226 due to concussion-like symptoms. I just feel like people don’t want to address it, but I’ve had this discussion with my coaches, with my roommates, other fighters. I think that’s a direct result of all the wars he’s had, all the heavy hits he’s eaten.”
Fair points all around?