"The first guy to do that goes down in the history books" - Curtis Blaydes on the appeal of a fight with Jon Jones at heavyweight

Curtis Blaydes is currently preparing for his fight with Jairzinho Rozenstruik, which is set for the UFC 266 main card this weekend. Should he be victorious against Rozenstruik, Blaydes may well be catapulted into the list of potential heavyweights who could welcome Jon Jones to the division.

Jones is undeniably one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time. He holds a record of 26-1, with his only loss coming by way of DQ due to illegal elbow strikes. He cleared out much of the UFC light heavyweight division and defended the belt numerous times.

In 2020, he announced he would be making the move up to heavyweight, vacating his light heavyweight title in the process. However, 'Bones' is yet to make his divisional debut and has not competed in over a year.

Considering Jones' incredible resume, many fighters would no doubt be daunted at the prospect of fighting him. However, Curtis Blaydes has pointed out that there is also a huge upside to facing the former champion in the octagon.

In a recent exclusive interview with Sportskeeda MMA's Andrew Whitelaw, Blaydes stated that even losing a fight against Jon Jones would boost a fighter's profile. He added that considering Jones is all but undefeated, a win against him would make you an instant superstar.

"Anyone who gets to fight with Jon Jones, that automatically elevates you. Then for you to beat him that elevates you higher. And then for you to be able to finish him... The first guy to do that goes down in the history books. You always wanna be...you wanna be the guy to be the first one to do anything and that would be a great accomplishment."

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Curtis Blaydes on who he has a realistic chance of fighting next

Should Curtis Blaydes defeat Jairzinho Rozenstruik this weekend, there are a number of potential opponents he could be matched up with next.

However, for the time being, the 30-year-old appears to believe it will be one of the following four fighters: Francis Ngannou, Ciryl Gane, Stipe Miocic or Jon Jones. Curtis Blaydes told Sportskeeda:

"There's alternate dimensions. There's an alternate reality where, after this, after I beat Jairzinho, I get the winner of Ngannou vs. Gane. And there's an alternate reality where I get Stipe. There's an alternate reality where I get Jon Jones. There's just so many different...I just haven't put a lot of energy into that. Who knows what happens. That's not really up to me."

You can check out our full interview with Curtis Blaydes ahead of UFC 266 below: