Curtis Blaydes always wanted a chance to become UFC champion, but he stopped obsessing over that goal when it became crystal clear that getting a shot at the heavyweight title would be one of the most frustrating endeavors of his career.
Whether the belt was held up by a three-year rivalry between Daniel Cormier and Stipe Miocic or the title was on ice while Francis Ngannou recovered from knee surgery and continued negotiating with UFC over a new contract, Blaydes had to stop sweating over his chance to fight for gold. After he vanquished Jailton Almeida and stood as the best available option for interim champion Tom Aspinall after their first encounter ended in just 15 seconds due to injury, Blaydes hoped he’d get the call but still never allowed himself to believe it was a guaranteed opportunity.
Even after he finally locked in a shot at the interim belt at UFC 304, Blaydes refused to celebrate because hunting for the interim title wasn’t what he was after. The goal was to become champion and that’s what always mattered most to him.
“I don’t want to be like, ‘I expected it,’” Blaydes told MMA Fighting. “Obviously, I didn’t expect it, but just because you get signed to the UFC, you can be happy about it, but you’ve got to go to work now. That’s where I’ve been since I found out about the fight.”
Despite a backstory built around Blaydes being Aspinall’s only UFC loss, it seems that the 33-year-old former college wrestler wasn’t actually the promotion’s first choice for UFC 304.
Aspinall claimed after the fight was announced that former interim champion Ciryl Gane was offered the opportunity first but turned it down because he was busy filming a movie.
Blaydes can’t say for certain if Gane got that offer, much less passed on it, but he’s not shocked if that’s how things played out.
The way he sees it, Gane probably knows he’ll get the same chance in the future, because for some reason, the French heavyweight is always circling around title contention even though he’s tried and failed to become undisputed champion twice in his past four fights.
“I’m not surprised,” Blaydes said. “From his perspective, he’s already received two interim title shots. So he’s like, ‘Hey, the chances are high that I’ll get another one.’ And he’s right. They’ll probably offer him another one. So he’s right. I can’t blame him. I mean, I wouldn’t do it, but from his perspective, he knows he’ll get another one.
“I guess I hear he’s doing a movie, which, you’re still making money. I don’t think they’re going to pay you what you would have made fighting for the belt, but it’s not like he just said he don’t want to do it. I guess he had a reason, and like I said, he most likely expects to get another offer within a year.”
As for Blaydes, he’s obviously happy he got his shot, no matter how it happened, but he doesn’t have the same confidence that he’ll just get handed another one in the future.
That’s why Blaydes wasted no time getting to work to prepare for Aspinall, because none of this matters if he doesn’t actually become champion in July.
“It’s a title fight. It’s big, but mostly, the latter, just time to get to work,” Blaydes said. “It’s a fight. I’m not going to get out of my schedule, get out of my routine, and start doing a bunch of special stuff. I’m going to do exactly what I did to get ready the last time. He didn’t actually get to fight, but I felt ready so I’m going to do the exact same thing I always do.”
