Toronto, ON — Chris Curtis had the distinct pleasure of following in the footsteps of Sean Strickland at the UFC 297 media day on Wednesday, a tough act to follow in many ways.
The teammates at Xtreme Couture are an odd couple of MMA, and Curtis (30-10, 1NC) could not be more different than Strickland in front of the cameras— affable, joking, warm and open. “As far as the Sean thing, I see Sean every day of the week, except for Sundays, thank God now. It used to be seven days a week, but now I see him Monday through Saturday,” Curtis said of the relationship. “We’ve got two different fights, two different camps but he’s always there, he’ always helpful. I spend a lot more time with Sean than is probably healthy for a normal person.”
Curtis also revealed that prior to Strickland purchasing a new home, the pair lived so close that the now-middleweight champ would simply turn up uninvited at random times. Yet Curtis takes it all with the patience of saint, apparently.
While he might be seeing Strickland one day less a week, Chris Curtis is seeing social media way less these days. He’s pressed pause on his online presence.
“Personal-wise, it’s great. Being off social media is such a godsend. I don’t even want to go back. I was back on for like four days because I needed a [phone number],” he noted. “If you guys ever don’t have a phone number and you don’t have social media, you’re f*cked. No one has phone numbers, none of my teammates have each other, it is miserable. So I had to get back on to get a phone number for a teammate, now I’m back off again.”
Just a handful of days back on socials was enough for Curtis to recognize that he didn’t need it.
“Even those three days on, you realize, you spend time doing scrolling, you’re kind of like, nothing’s going on, pop the phone open, you’re scrolling, and what do you see? You see a lot of fake sh*t, you see all these fitness influencers doing their B.S., all the other influencers doing their B.S., people complaining about sh*t, people dying, it’s so toxic for your mind.”
Social media has become a way for athletes and celebrities to connect with fans, but even that has its drawbacks, explained Curtis.
“As far as the sport goes too, I have really great fans but I think that I just get overwhelmed with the interactions at times, and I’m a naturally combative person, I’m a talkative person, so I get drawn into that downward spiral too quickly. It’s just who I am, everybody’s different. Some guys, it rolls off their backs. For me for the most part I’m fine but if I’m feeling a certain way that day it’s going to strike a nerve, I’m going to be on the warpath. It’s just better to be unplugged from it, man.”
Later, Curtis noted that with fatherhood and age, he’s lost patience for social platforms. “Social media’s a refuge of cowards, I just don’t have the patience for it anymore.”
Ahead of their fight, Marc-Andre Barriault has called Chris Curtis his ticket to the top 15. Curtis took that in stride on Wednesday.
“I was Brendan Allen’s ticket, I was Phil Hawes‘ ticket, a lot of other people’s ticket, and I sent them right back,” said Curtis, before noting that Allen has been killing it lately. “Everyone says that, and people are like ‘oh you’re a gatekeeper,’ I’m like ‘okay, but you still can’t come in.'”
Watch the full UFC 297 media day appearance by Chris Curtis above.
