At 33 years of age, Curtis
Blaydes still has plenty of time to develop and climb back up
the heavyweight division.
Blaydes (18-5, 1 NC) challenged Tom
Aspinall (15-3) for the interim heavyweight title in the
co-main event at
UFC 304 in the latter’s home of Manchester, England. The two
previously clashed in 2022, with Blaydes picking up an injury
stoppage TKO win after Aspinall blew out his knee in 15 seconds. In
the rematch, Blaydes fared well in the initial exchanges, but a
single jab set “Razor” down, and Aspinall finished the job with
ruthless ground-and-pound to notch the stoppage one minute into the
fight.
Addressing his defeat, Blaydes apologized for throwing his
premeditated gameplan out the window after landing on Aspinall
early. “Razor” remained confident that he would have defeated the
Brit had he stuck to the strategy designed by his coaches.
“Sorry guys,” Blaydes wrote, “I
got greedy when I touched him early and threw out the amazing
gameplay that my coaches Vinnie
Lopez [and] Cody
Donovan came up with that would’ve worked I’m sure of it. No
excuses Tom was on point tonight. I know this isn’t the end of my
journey but damnit, I know I’m better than tonight’s performance. I
appreciate all the support truly it’s been an eye opening
experience to have so many [people] rocking with me”
Blaydes earned a crack at the interim strap courtesy of a
second-round comeback stoppage of then-surging Jailton
Almeida. After his 2022 victory over Aspinall, Blaydes competed
in a de facto title eliminator against Sergei
Pavlovich, succumbing to strikes in the first round. His
triumphant opponent Aspinall has gone past the opening round only
once in eight UFC wins, with the injury loss against Blaydes the
only blemish on his promotional record. The promotion stated that
Aspinall’s next test would be against the winner of the unannounced
battle between Jon Jones and
Stipe
Miocic rumored to be coming in November.