Curtis
Blaydes laid down his gameplan to show Alex
Pereira what time it is in a potential matchup.
Pereira (11-2) has won the
Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight and light
heavyweight title and defended the latter three times in less than
three years of his debut with the promotion. The Brazilian’s
unprecedented rise to stardom has led to talks of a potential move
up to heavyweight to chase three-division glory. Watching Pereira
spar heavyweight boxers like Australia’s Demsey
McKean and China’s Zhilei Zhang led many to believe that
“Poatan” can hold his own against heavyweights.
However, Blaydes (18-4) strongly warned Pereira against a move up
to heavyweight. “Razor” explained that his strategy against Pereira
would be to immediately shoot for a takedown, which he believes he
can get at will. Blaydes believes Pereira is also well aware of
that and is seeking specific fights at heavyweight instead of
random matchups. According to Blaydes, while Pereira could
potentially defeat heavyweight sluggers like Tai
Tuivasa, he won’t get past anyone in the Top 5.
“Bad idea. I’ll give you my premeditated plan. Going to shoot
immediately. Why would I give him any chance to knock me out on the
feet when I know I can take him down at will?” Blaydes said during
the UFC 304 media day. “He has to know that. I think he’s looking
[at] specific heavyweights, not any heavyweight. I can see him
beating guys like Tai [Tuivasa], we watched him sparring Tai
Tuivasa. Maybe some other guys at the bottom of the Top 15. But you
give him the Top 5 guys with some real weight, he’s not
winning.”
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The most common counter to a takedown is a knee up the middle, as
demonstrated by Jorge
Masvidal in his record-breaking 5-second knockout of Ben Askren.
However, Blaydes believes he can eat a knee from Pereira after
having absorbed one in is his TKO win over Alistair
Overeem at UFC 225 in 2018.
“I’m going to eat that knee. I ate one from Alistair [Overeem]. You
think [Pereira] throws harder knees than Alistair? I know he got
the aura going on right now, but I ate a knee from 265-pound
Alistair. I’m good with eating knees.”
Blaydes is scheduled to challenge Tom
Aspinall (14-3) for the interim heavyweight title in the
main-event at
UFC 304 in Manchester this weekend. There have already been
talks of a future matchup between Pereira and Aspinall, who has
also expressed interest. Blaydes is also open to fighting “Poatan”
if he gets past Aspinall and vows to “fu*k up” the light
heavyweight champ.
“I know this is what everyone wants to hear – Yes, I would fu*k up
Alex Pereira. It’s not cause he’s not good, I’m heavier than he is.
Just at heavyweight, gravity; weight matters. It’s not skill-based,
that’s just how it is.”