LAST MINUTE CHANGE
Chris Curtis finally get’s the UFC call!! He takes on Phil Hawes
tomorrow on the
#UFCVegas39 card. Curtis replacing Deron Winn. pic.twitter.com/00P6KETUmk— MMA DNA (@MMADNANL)
October 8, 2021
Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on
your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the
ESPN app. At long last, Chris
Curtis has joined the Ultimate Fighting Championship ranks.
On Friday morning, MMA
DNA first broke the news that Curtis (26-8) has been signed by
the promotion to step in on extremely short notice and face
Phil
Hawes (11-2) at middleweight. Hawes was originally booked
against Deron Winn,
but Winn was forced out of the match for non-COVID, non-weight
related, undisclosed reasons. The signing was confirmed by multiple
outlets, and then cemented when Curtis hit the scales on Friday to
make weight at 184.5 pounds.
Shortly after Curtis successfully made weight, MMA
Fighting reported that despite this, the fight has been
scratched from this
UFC Fight Night 194 card. Per ESPN,
Hawes turned the fight down as he did not want to face a different
opponent on a day’s notice. It is currently unclear if Curtis will
be paid his show money as he did make weight, or if the matchup
will be preserved for a later date. However, Curtis will remain on
the UFC roster to compete inside the Octagon at a later date.
“The Action Man” Curtis has rattled off five straight wins since a
largely unsuccessful run under the Professional Fighters League banner, most
recently taking a decision over UFC vet Kenny
Robertson. When with the PFL in 2019, Curtis reached the
playoffs thanks to a third-round knockout of Andre
Fialho. A pair of decision losses to Magomed
Magomedkerimov and a subsequent knockout to Ray Cooper
III – the latter coming the same night after losing and then
retiring for a few minutes – saw him end his PFL tenure. Curtis
previously appeared on the second season of Dana White’s Contender Series, and although he
won by knockout, he was not signed, and retired after that fight as
well only to come back.
Since joining the organization off the fourth season of DWCS,
Phil
Hawes has strung together three wins inside the Octagon. His
debut over Jacob
Malkoun in October 2020 could not have gone better, as he
wrecked the Aussie in 18 seconds. Decisions over Nassourdine
Imavov and Kyle
Daukaus – the first two decision wins of his career – put him
on a track towards contendership.
UFC Fight Night 194 will carry on with nine fights inside the UFC
Apex on Oct. 9. The headliner sees Marina
Rodriguez take on Mackenzie
Dern in a high-stakes strawweight tilt. Drawing the co-main
event assignment is a welterweight brawl between Randy Brown
and Jared
Gooden, while Tim Elliott
vs. Matheus
Nicolau at flyweight sits in the “featured fight of the night”
slot.
