Heavyweight Curtis Blaydes rolls into Columbus, Ohio this weekend, competing in the main event for the fifth time in his UFC career.
“It’s always a compliment when you’re being told you’re going to be a main event,” Blaydes (15-3, 1NC) said during this week’s UFC Columbus media day. “Like you said, it means you can carry a card. It means the company believes in you, believes in the value that you bring. In terms of training, the extra rounds, that’s the biggest emphasis to me. More conditioning, pushing a little hard, a few extra sparring rounds, instead of just doing four or five, we do five or six or seven sometimes, just to really push the body, because who knows, we might be in for five rounds of war.”
That war, should it happen, will come against Chris Daukaus, a rising star in the company who was defeated by Derrick Lewis in his last outing — which many saw as the first true test for Daukaus in the weight class. Blaydes is the second.
“He’s become a name in this company now. His is highly ranked. You don’t just get ranked for nothing,” Blaydes said of his opponent. “So a win over him, hopefully, a finish over him, that keeps me in title contention. Because we don’t know what’s going on with Stipe [Miocic], Jon [Jones], [Ciryl] Gane, [Francis] Ngannou. There’s a lot of just, stagnation, so I’m really just trying to maintain my position.”
Maintaining his position is something “realist” Blaydes sees as key in the weight class right now. That will not change moving forward, should he get his hand raised over Daukaus following Saturday’s Fight Night card.
Asked in particular about Tom Aspinall, who won big at UFC London a week ago, Blaydes said that “I think any one of the top five— anyone, [Tai] Tuivasa, Stipe [Miocic], any of those guys. If Aspinall is ranked above me, that’s a worthy opponent for me.”
“He’s [Aspinall] also another guy that built up a name really fast, he just got a finish over [Alexander] Volkov, someone I highly respect because I’ve been in the octagon with him. That’s not easy to do,” Blaydes continued. “If that happens, a win over him also, really just maintains— I’m a realist, I understand this division. This division is Ngannou, Gane, and there’s always room for a third. That third might be Stipe, it might be me. I’m being honest, I’ve just got to keep winning. If you keep winning, you stay relevant.”
Watch the full UFC Columbus media day interview with Curtis Blaydes above. The event takes place Saturday, March 26, 2022 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
