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Curtis Blaydes caught a lot of backlash from Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White after “Razor” wrestled his way to a dominant win over Alexander Volkov at UFC Vegas 3 last June. A lot of it had to do with the fact that Blaydes was talking about a pay bump prior to the bout and White didn’t feel a performance like that deserved one.

Despite the backlash, Blaydes said he would not change his stance when it came to getting paid, nor will change his fighting style and risk losing half of his pay just to please a select few people.

That’s why he isn’t keeping it a secret that he plans on taking Derrick Lewis down and keeping him there as long as possible when the two men throw down this Saturday night (Feb. 20, 2021) at UFC Vegas 19.

“I know a lot of people don’t care, I have a family. I’m out here trying to feed my family. I don’t care if you want me to risk my win bonus, which is $100K. You want me to risk $100K to stand and bang with a guy who has terrible wrestling? Nah, I am just not going to do it,” he said during an interview with ESPN.

Grappling with “Black Beast” is the obvious best course of action for anyone locked in the cage with him because the heavy-handed big man has some of the most devastating knockout power the sport has ever seen (evidence here).

And since Daniel Cormier already proved that taking down the big man and grinding out a win is the best way to a victory, Blaydes is ready to follow that blue print even if he draws the ire of fans along the way.

To see the entire UFC Vegas 19: “Blaydes vs. Lewis” fight card click here.

The UFC roster cuts continue.

This latest set of UFC roster cuts probably consists of people who were released or didn’t renew their contracts over the past few months, but nevertheless MMA Junkie confirmed nine more departures from the promotion.

Here’s the list:

Aleksandra Albu (3-2 MMA, 2-2 UFC)

Ali Alqaisi (8-5 MMA, 0-2 UFC)

Cyril Asker (9-4 MMA, 2-3 UFC)

Alex Chambers (5-5 MMA, 1-4 UFC)

Chris De La Rocha (5-3 MMA, 1-3 UFC)

Syuri Kondo (6-3 MMA, 1-3 UFC)

Bojan Mihajlovic (10-6 MMA, 0-3 UFC)

Suman Mokhtarian (8-2 MMA, 0-2 UFC)

Dmitry Sosnovskiy (11-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC)

Only Sosnovskiy had a winning UFC record but the reason he got cut probably had to do with this. He’s got a record of a different sort now.

Albu had won her first two UFC fights but dropped her final two, including a decision to Loma Lookboonmee in October 2019. Asker went 2-3 and was bounced after a TKO defeat to Tai Tuivasa back in 2018. Not every French heavyweight has what it takes to become a contender. De La Rocha hadn’t fought since 2018 when he was stopped by Juan Adams to fall to 1-3 inside the Octagon.

Everyone else who was released was on a losing streak of some sort.

Reigning UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman promises to put longtime 170-pound veteran Jorge Masvidal “in a coffin” if and when they run it back for the “Nigerian Nightmare’s” division title at some point later this year.

He’ll get no argument from the MMA sportsbooks.

Our fiscal friends over at BetOnline.ag opened the champ at -300 against +250 for the challenger. Usman captured a fairly one-sided decision victory over “Gamebred” when they first went to war in the UFC 251 headliner last July.

Masvidal blamed the loss on his six-day training camp.

“That fight, he had a built in excuse, that’s the only reason he took that fight,” Usman told reporters after stopping Gilbert Burns at UFC 258 last weekend in Las Vegas. “The only reason he took that fight on ‘Fight Island’ is because it was a built-in excuse. He was training the whole time but he’s saying ‘I only had six days notice, that’s why it went that way.’”

Masvidal may have a full camp the second time around — plus an additional six weeks — if this rumored plan comes to fruition.

The MMA legend will reprise his role as Georges Batroc in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier for Disney+.

At 39, Georges St-Pierre is well aware that his time as an elite athlete is drawing to a close. The two-division UFC Champion tells Variety he is looking to make his way to the top all over again—this time as a Hollywood action star.

“I started taking it more seriously, and now I’m having acting class every week. Theater, camera acting, audition coaching and English lessons. It’s a lot of work, and I put in the same amount of work and passion that I used for training. In martial arts, you start at white belt. That’s where I have to start with acting. I have to climb the mountain again.”

St-Pierre made his debut as Georges Batroc (aka Batroc the Leaper), in 2014’s Captain America: Winter Soldier, and he will return to the MCU on Disney+ in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier in the role that is perfect for him—Batroc is a French speaking master of martial arts.

In 2016, St-Pierre starred alongside his childhood idol Jean-Claude Van Damme in Kickboxer: Vengeance, once again playing to his strength as a martial artist.

St-Pierre tells Variety there is a lot crossover on what creates success for a fighter and an actor. “My sport is a full-contact sport, so there’s a lot of mental work. Trash talking, mind games. Deep down inside, you’re afraid, but you have to act like the win is inevitable. It can be heartbreaking. You have to dig deep and show perseverance.”

Even more directly, fighters are also actors themselves, according to St-Pierre. “When you see Conor McGregor, for example, he’s playing a role. Fighters play a role. That’s the persona that he gives himself: Love me, hate me, but don’t ignore me. I’m more shy and true to the value of martial arts, and that’s how I carried myself in that business. We are all actors — when it’s time to perform.”

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is scheduled to premiere on March 19, 2021, and will consist of six episodes.