Curtis Blaydes
VIDEO: Curtis Blaydes believes ‘mutual respect’ with Tom Aspinall could lead to a title fight rematch
At UFC 299, heavyweight contender Curtis Blaydes picked up another signature win to his lengthy and impressive resume with a second-round TKO victory over Jailton Almeida in what began as a very frustrating fight. In the first round of their fight, Almeida was able to land 9 takedowns on Blaydes, who is one of the most prolific wrestlers in heavyweight history, but not much damage was taken by Blaydes.
It didn’t take long for things to turnaround for Curtis Blaydes, as the second round began and after stuffing one of Almeida’s takedown attempts, “Razor” landed vicious hammerfists and put away the rising UFC contender with a barrage of punches. Following the win, Blaydes told Joe Rogan he wanted a fight with interim champion Tom Aspinall as the two have “unfinished business” from their first meeting.
On Monday, Blaydes joined the ‘On The Mic‘ podcast where he spoke to MyMMANews.com about his victory, wanting the rematch against Tom Aspinall, and why he feels a mutual respect between the two will lead to them rematching for the interim title.
Back in July of 2023, Blaydes traveled to enemy territory and faced off against Aspinall, but the fight had an unfortunate ending for all parties involved as Aspinall suffered a serious knee injury just seconds into the fight. No matter how it happened, it was still listed as a victory for Blaydes over Aspinall. The two would go on different paths after their fight, with Aspinall securing the interim heavyweight title, and Blaydes picking up the win after losing to Sergei Pavlovich, who Aspinall beat for the title.
When detailing why he won’t entertain a fight against Ciryl Game, Curtis Blaydes opened up on the mutual respect between him and the interim champion.
“We got respect, even after we had our fight, it wasn’t really a fight. He got injured, we had a beer, we hung out, he’s a nice guy. I respect him and I still want to fight him. I think the feelings are mutual, he respects me, he wants to get that rematch. I think it’s going to happen because of the mutual respect we have, I don’t have that respect for Gane.”
Waiting in the wings is a fight between reigning heavyweight champion Jon Jones and former champion Stipe Miocic, and while that fight was delayed due to injury, Blaydes believes that the top of the division has easy-to-make matchups and that a new era in the heavyweight division can begin.
“I think they do me vs Aspinall and then you do Ciryl Gane vs [Sergei] Pavlovich, then whoever wins between me and Aspinall gets to the fight the winner of Gane vs Pavlovich, it’s only fair.”
Paying more respect to the interim champion, Blaydes credited Aspinall’s mindset and said that since he is unlike reigning champion Jon Jones and is more eager to fight, it could lead to the UFC making an interim title fight while things at the top are still on hold.
“I think we’re about to get to a new era, I can already see it in Aspinall, he doesn’t think like the other guys. He’s ready to scrap, he wants to scrap. He wants to prove he’s one of the best, I respect that. That’s the only way I’m going to get an opportunity, is he has to have that mindset. If he had the mindset of Jon Jones, he would wait a year-and-a-half, thankfully, he doesn’t. That would suck, I’d be screwed again. I don’t know what I would do if he had Jon Jones’ mindset. I’m very happy that Aspinall is a respectable guy and he’s ready to run it back.”
Not willing to let himself be denied a chance to run it back against Tom Aspinall, Blaydes handled business and if the respect is truly mutual, the UFC could make the interim title fight rematch if they so choose.
Full interview with Curtis Blaydes:
