In his eight years as a UFC fighter, a chance to earn the heavyweight championship had consistently eluded Curtis Blaydes.
His fighting style at heavyweight has been predominantly grappling-heavy, with his record for most takedowns landed in heavyweight competition nearly doubling the next best, which can often be a barrier of entry to challenge for a championship in favour of those with the sort of knockout power that has been synonymous with the division.
However, the biggest impediment for Blaydes has been falling short when it mattered most. Whether it was his knockout loss to Francis Ngannou in their rematch, getting caught by Derrick Lewis or running into Sergei Pavlovich who would receive a title shot in his next bout, Blaydes has always ended up on the outside looking in when it came to title contention.
On Saturday, that will no longer be the case when he faces Tom Aspinall in a rematch of their 2022 meeting, which lasted just 15 seconds when the now-interim heavyweight champion Aspinall suffered a freak injury that rained on a potential parade in the main event of a Fight Night card in London, England.
Regardless of circumstance, handing Aspinall his lone UFC loss two years ago helped contribute to the opportunity Blaydes has this weekend to fight for gold for the first time.
Since champion Jon Jones is expected to face Stipe Miocic later this year, it forced Aspinall to either remain sidelined while the dust settles or defend the interim title he won by knocking out Pavlovich in November. Aspinall chose the latter when he found out the UFC was holding an event in his hometown of Manchester and Blaydes was coming off of a win, so the rematch made sense.
For Blaydes, it was the right place at the right time.
At 33 years old, Blaydes is in his prime as a heavyweight after making his UFC debut on short notice more than eight years ago against Ngannou, who would go on to become the undisputed champion.
The combination of the short notice and an ascending Ngannou weren’t the only factors that made his debut a tall order. Blaydes was also training at a UFC Gym franchise in Chicago and had barely any striking skills by his own admission.
It was a move to Denver under the tutelage of former UFC light heavyweight Cody Donovan and striking coach Vinnie Lopez that turned his career around and made him a true contender at heavyweight.
Having climbed the ladder in the division with wins over the likes of Alistair Overeem, Junior dos Santos and, most recently, a surging Jailton Almeida, Blaydes feels like he has earned the opportunity, but he is hesitant to get excited about it.
“It’s not like a celebration or anything like that, we haven’t actually had the fight” Blaydes told Sportsnet. “I’m just happy to have the opportunity.”
This will be just the third fight where Blaydes will be an underdog, a circumstance where he has found success having won both fights previously where he had that designation against Almeida and Aspinall respectively.
Aspinall has been very complimentary of Blaydes and feels that it is the toughest matchup for him in the division and that could very well be the case with Aspinall having only faced two takedowns in his UFC career to date where Blaydes averages 5.72 takedowns per fifteen minutes, which is second only to Almeida in the division.
Going to an opponent’s home country where they have overwhelming fan support is a daunting task for most, but Blaydes has already acted out this script.
“This is my second time going to England, this is my second time going against Aspinall, this is my 11th main event. It’s just a fight,” Blaydes added.
His last visit resulted in an unsatisfying victory for Blaydes and crushing defeat for Aspinall, who was unable to perform ably for more than a few seconds before suffering his injury.
For Aspinall, there is unfinished business in avenging his lone UFC loss, for Blaydes, his unfinished business is a much bigger feat that has taken him a decade to manifest since his mixed martial arts debut, which is becoming a heavyweight champion at the highest level.
In the wee hours of the morning in Manchester, Blaydes looks to play spoiler once more.
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