Fighter on Fighter: Breaking Down ‘Razor Blaydes!’

Powerful wrestler, Curtis Blaydes, will take on the man with the most knockouts in Heavyweight history, Derrick Lewis, this Saturday (Feb. 20, 2021) at UFC Vegas 19 inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Blaydes, 29, is one of the very best Heavyweights in the world, and he’s already handled a fair number of the division’s top contenders. Were it not for Francis Ngannou and his absurd ability to punch through metal, “Razor” would be undefeated inside the Octagon, clearly the frontrunner to take the title. Instead, he’s in something of a limbo, complicated further by the seemingly endless logjam of the Heavyweight title. Until his shot materializes, Blaydes will just have to keep throwing himself at dangerous top contenders, hoping he can remain perfect in a division filled with big punchers.

Let’s take a closer look at his skill set:

Striking

Blaydes has steadily built himself into a more dangerous striker. He’s always shown good fundamentals, but over the years, Blaydes has improved his defensive flaws while also becoming a more pronounced threat.

His best striking performance yet came against Junior dos Santos, where it really all came together. From the first bell, Blaydes was very active with his feints, pumping out his shoulder and changing levels often. Simple and low energy, but as a result, dos Santos showed his hand several times by over-committing to wide swings as Blaydes pretended to come forward. In addition, Blaydes landed a nice one-two combination off the level change feint.

Blaydes has an 80-inch reach, and he used it fairly well in that bout. Blaydes doesn’t yet have a particularly snappy jab, but his kicks were effective. At distance, Blaydes was actively showing the jab and using it to dig a right low kick.

In addition, Blaydes showed an increased willingness to switch to Southpaw, where he would punt the mid-section from the open side. Blaydes also began using shifting combinations to cover distance. After throwing his right hand, he would switch Southpaw and began jabbing as dos Santos backed up. This set up both powerful left hand swings and shots.

Finally, it takes a bit of experience to be able to recognize a reaction and capitalize. Dos Santos was really searching for his right uppercut, throwing that strike with bad intentions … and a lot of wind up. Blaydes noticed, and rather than just avoid the punch, sent his right hand directly down the middle and beat his foe to the punch on two separate occasions (GIF).

In his most recent bout, Blaydes showed the same improved level change into one-two combination against Alexander Volkov. He genuinely landed the better punches early in the fight, but he was unwilling to let the fight play out there, as he continually drove into shots. He used a lot of energy as a result, but he clearly showed an ability to strike with the Russian.

Even as one of the best in the world, Blaydes is still undergoing the process of growing comfortable striking with more experienced hitters.

The clinch is enough of a wrestling position that Blaydes never looks uncomfortable or unwilling to strike. Given the opportunity, Blaydes will jam his foe into the fence and go to work with small, punishing shots. As his opponent attempts to break away, Blaydes will look to snap off one final knee or unfurl a long right hand to catch his foe on the break.

Every once in a while, Blaydes abandons the goal of being a perfectly technical boxer. Usually, that happens when he gets hit hard, stuns his opponent, or sees a foe covering on the fence. When Blaydes bites down and throws, he is able to do big damage with looping shots like hooks and uppercuts.

Wrestling

A junior college wrestling champion and state champion in high school, Blaydes has some solid wrestling credentials. Inside the cage, he’s an athletic 255-pounder who actually knows how to change levels and drive forward — meaning he far outmatches most of the division even without having to use any advance techniques.

Let’s circle back to the jab, which sets up all of Blaydes’ double legs. Whenever Blaydes shoots, he offers forward a pump feint first, a similar movement to the jab. He only needs his opponent’s hands to hover high for a fraction of a second, enough time for him to drop down and meet their hips (GIF).

Once in on the hips, Blaydes drives and lifts tremendously well. He does a great job of adjusting for his opponent’s sprawl and hips, finishing the takedown as needed. At times, he can simply blast through easily. If his opponent offers more resistance, Blaydes will run through a couple steps before trying to power through the finish.

If met with very powerful hips like Francis Ngannou, Blaydes does a great job of cutting angles or adding in a trip mid-drive. Overeem is similarly powerful, but Blaydes did a great job of either timing the shot perfectly or forcing him into the fence to square his hips up.

Also important are Blaydes’ excellent mat returns. The most common way to stand at Heavyweight is to turn away, stand, and fight hands — the Derrick Lewis special! Due to the size of these men, it is not easy to pick them up and put them back down with authority repeatedly, but Blaydes does so expertly.

He has a number of different varieties of his mat return. Sometimes, Blaydes will catch the arm and drag his foe down to that side merely by dropping his weight. Often, Blaydes lifts his foe from the chest rather than the traditional waist, which helps prevent them from placing a foot on the mat and preventing the throw.

In top position, Blaydes’ desire to fight technically remains. He does not often jump into the guard with a big punch or do anything to reckless. Instead, Blaydes is all about the elbows, often from guard. It’s simple work: frame the face, drop an elbow, repeat. Blaydes is a patient man, willing to wait for a real opening before delivering major damage (GIF).

It only takes one clear pathway for Blaydes to destroy a face, as Overeem found it in the third round after not absorbing much damage in the opening two rounds.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

In truth, I haven’t seen much in the way of offensive jiu-jitsu from Blaydes in terms of submissions. Positionally, he advanced past Mark Hunt’s guard and managed to take his back, a task surprisingly difficult given Hunt’s squat figure. Back on the regional scene, Blaydes did win a fight by arm-triangle choke. His head position was not great, but Blaydes also put his foe to sleep, so you cannot question the results.

Defensively, Blaydes’ maintains such tight pressure that it’s hard to see anyone short of Fabricio Werdum being able to threaten him from the guard … and the Brazilian is no longer on UFC’s roster. Overeem managed to elevate and attack with the heel hook a couple times, but Blaydes did a nice job hand-fighting to prevent too much pressure on his ligaments.

Conclusion

Blaydes is going to be a relevant title contender for about as long as he wants to continue fighting. His combination of skilled wrestling and deep gas tank alone is enough to overwhelm many top fighters, and that’s before we consider his iron chin or fast-improving kickboxing. However, it is worth-noting that Lewis is something of a trap fight for wrestlers, and it may take more guts and skill to survive scary moments than Blaydes expects.

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Andrew Richardson, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt, is a professional fighter who trains at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California. In addition to learning alongside world-class talent, Andrew has scouted opponents and developed winning strategies for several of the sport’s most elite fighters.