Despite seeing his main event clash with Tom Aspinall end with an unfortunate injury yesterday (Sat., July 23, 2022) at UFC London live on ESPN+ from inside O2 Arena in London, England, heavyweight contender Curtis Blaydes is not interested in a rematch with his English counterpart.
Blaydes, who walked away with a technical knockout finish after Aspinall blew out his knee just 15 seconds into the first round, still isn’t sure what happened in his main event bout. The two heavyweights came out firing, landed a few shots of their own, and then Aspinall dropped to the canvas in a heap holding his knee in pain. It was odd to say the least.
“I have no idea what happened,” said Blaydes during UFC London’s post-fight press conference (watch HERE). “He landed the kick, I went to counter, he dropped. That’s all I know.
“I’m frustrated. No one wants to win like that. I get the win, I hold my ranking. I get the money, but without a highlight, did it even happen? Did the fight even happen?”
Blaydes, who was coming off a sensational knockout finish over Chris Daukaus back in March, is now riding a three-fight win streak in UFC’s growing heavyweight division. That sort of success should put “Razor” in a position to slice his way into a title shot in his next few fights. While fight fans would like to see a rematch between Blaydes and Aspinall before either heavyweight moves on that’s unlikely to happen at this point.
“I’m not risking my ranking (with a rematch),” Blaydes said. “I won the fight. Heading into this fight I envisioned the winner, which is me, would be fighting the winner of Tuivasa and Gane. So, I’m not going to pass up an opportunity to fight those guys when it’s right there to wait for Tom Aspinall to heal and run it back.”
What do you think, Maniacs? Should UFC aim to book this rematch when it can or should the promotion move on in the heavyweight division?
Sound off!
For complete UFC London results and coverage click here.