Curtis Blaydes: ‘I Hope Stipe Miocic Is Considering My Callout’

Curtis Blaydes really wants a meeting with Stipe Miocic.

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Curtis Blaydes is really gunning for a fight with Stipe Miocic.

Normally, someone in Blaydes’ position would likely be gearing up for a UFC heavyweight title shot. He is coming off five straight wins over some of the division’s most elite competition.

His last Octagon outing resulted in a devastating third round TKO win over Alistair Overeem. After Daniel Cormier’s UFC heavyweight title win at UFC 226 earlier this year, things went horribly wrong for Blaydes.

Former UFC heavyweight champion and pay-per-view (PPV) attraction Brock Lesnar returned to the promotion. Dana White has confirmed he will be Cormier’s next challenger for the heavyweight title. Cormier even openly stated that he has no interest in fighting Blaydes at this point in his career.

This leaves Blaydes in a tough situation. With Lesnar vs. Cormier not being eligible to take place until January, the 27-year-old will likely be forced to fight again. If that’s the case, he’d like to fight the man Cormier defeated for the heavyweight title – Stipe Miocic.

Miocic is statistically the most successful heavyweight champion in UFC history, as he was the first to defend it successfully three consecutive times. Blaydes has respectfully called out Miocic in recent weeks.

In a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Blaydes revealed that the UFC has offered Miocic a fight against him at UFC Denver on November 10th. Blaydes hopes Miocic signs the contract, as neither one of them will receive their deserved shot at the title anytime soon:

“I don’t feel like it’s my right to tell another athlete, let alone another man, how he should feel about a situation, but if it were me, he has a legitimate claim for the rematch [against Cormier], but I also have a legitimate claim for a title shot now. It is what it is,” Blaydes said.

“Neither one of us is going to get that title shot this year. We’ve still got five months left in the year. I don’t want to wait that long. I want to get another one in before the holidays start. The UFC, they’re behind it, because like I said, it makes sense. It’s a good matchup, it would be a good fight.

“He’s good, I’m good, we’re both good wrestlers. My hands have gotten a lot better. I want to showcase the skills I’ve been developing, and I just think, because I live here in the Denver area, I live 15 minutes away from downtown Denver, so I feel like it’ll help me grow a fanbase here.

“This is where I live now. I don’t know how Stipe sees the callout … but I’m hoping he’s really considering it. Really, for him, it’s either he fights me or he waits until April. I mean, that’s a long wait. I want to make my argument for a title shot stronger. And that’s what Stipe does.”

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Curtis Blaydes Claims Stipe Miocic Has Been Offered Fight Against Him

It turns out that Curtis Blaydes’s respectful callout of Stipe Miocic may have been intended not to get the ball rolling on a potential fight against the former world champion, but to keep it rolling. If Curtis Blaydes’ tweet yesterday is to be underst…

It turns out that Curtis Blaydes’s respectful callout of Stipe Miocic may have been intended not to get the ball rolling on a potential fight against the former world champion, but to keep it rolling. If Curtis Blaydes’ tweet yesterday is to be understood, either the UFC reached out to Stipe immediately after Blaydes’s challenge through […]

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MMA News Morning Town Hall (8.9.18): Reyes vs. OSP, Dana-GSP, Stipe & More

Dominick Reyes vs. OSP Reported for UFC 229 For the second day in a row, our top story is a reported bout for UFC 229 in Las Vegas. It was reported yesterday that #12 ranked and undefeated light heavyweight Dominick Reyes will have the biggest fight of…

Dominick Reyes vs. OSP Reported for UFC 229 For the second day in a row, our top story is a reported bout for UFC 229 in Las Vegas. It was reported yesterday that #12 ranked and undefeated light heavyweight Dominick Reyes will have the biggest fight of his young career at the pay per view […]

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Dana White: Stipe Feels Disrespected Every Time I Turn Around

What’s that you say? Stipe Miocic feels disrespected? Dana White has heard this story before. With Brock Lesnar announced to face Daniel Cormier for the UFC heavyweight championship, that has left the record-breaking Miocic temporarily out of the pictu…

What’s that you say? Stipe Miocic feels disrespected? Dana White has heard this story before. With Brock Lesnar announced to face Daniel Cormier for the UFC heavyweight championship, that has left the record-breaking Miocic temporarily out of the picture. Miocic has not been shy about requesting a rematch with Cormier. And though a rematch did […]

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Quote: We’ll See If Francis Ngannou Ever Gets Back On Track

Will Francis Ngannou ever return to his once-feared form?

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The MMA world is waiting to see if Francis Ngannou ever gets back on track.

The recent UFC title contender was the talk of the sport as recently as last December’s UFC 218. There, he bludgeoned longtime veteran Alistair Overeem with one of the most iconic uppercut knockouts in history.

It was a win that propelled him to a title shot against then-champion Stipe Miocic at January’s UFC 220. A one-sided decision loss derailed “The Predator’s” hype train, however, things got much worse. Ngannou signed on to fight Derrick Lewis at July’s UFC 226. Losing a second straight bout, he appeared scared to even throw in one of the worst heavyweight fights of all-time.

After the loss, UFC President Dana White was quick to take Ngannou to task for supposedly letting his ego get out of control. White recently opened up about the scenario on the ‘UFC Unfiltered’ podcast (via MMAjunkie):

“Francis Ngannou at the time he was coming up, I believed this guy was going to be the guy, was going to be the heavyweight champion. He lost his mind. This guy completely lost his mind and started to act – I don’t know – in a way you just don’t act.

“I completely saw it coming. Obviously Francis Ngannou is a massive, strong, hard-hitting guy, and anything can happen when he gets in there, but Stipe had this thing where he feels completely disrespected. This guy’s always on fire and pissed off at the world and pissed off at us. I saw that coming. I knew he was going (to win).”

White detailed a scene where Ngannou was so sure he was going to dethrone Miocic. The UFC exec claimed he actually left the UFC Performance Institute to go train in France:

“Francis Ngannou left the training center here (in Las Vegas) where he trained for previous fights, took off to France, was in France training or doing whatever he was doing leading up to the Stipe fight because he absolutely, positively knew he was going to be beat Stipe.”

White then closed on the subject by posing the question if Ngannou would ever be able to make it back to the position he enjoyed months ago:

“Ngannou has a lot – I don’t know – he has a lot of things he needs to fix personally and professionally. We’ll see if he ever gets back on track again.”

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UFC 229: Conor vs. Khabib May Have Heavyweight Co-Main Event

Derrick Lewis vs. Alexander Volkov looks like it will serve as the co-main event for UFC 229: Conor vs. Khabib

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UFC 229: Conor vs. Khabib is already expected to set MMA PPV records, but it appears a heavyweight fight between Derrick Lewis and Alexander Volkov may serve as the co-main event of the evening.

ESPN.com first reported the possible heavyweight scrap and MMAjunkie later confirmed.

Lewis (20-5) is the #2 ranked heavyweight in the world. The only man ranked higher than him is the recently dethroned Stipe Miocic. The Houston native is riding a two-fight win streak. With an impressive win over Volkov Lewis could find himself as the next man up for Daniel Cormier’s heavyweight belt.

Volkov has been on a terror since entering the UFC. He is on an impressive six-fight win streak with the last four coming inside the octagon. He most recently picked apart Fabricio Werdum en route to a fourth-round TKO stoppage over the former champion. A win over Lewis would all but assures the Russian a crack at the heavyweight title.

UFC 229 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Oct. 6, 2018.

Here is the card so far with the rumored Lewis vs. Volkov fight:

Yana Kunitskaya vs. Lina Länsberg

Sergio Pettis vs. Jussier Formiga

Derrick Lewis vs. Alexander Volkov

Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor

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