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What's the story?
Ahead of UFC Fight Night 141 in Beijing, China, UFC Heavyweight Champion, Daniel Cormier weighed in his thoughts on Heavyweight upstart Curtis Blaydes and his evolution inside the Octagon since making his promotional debut in 2016 against the very same man he'll square off with this Sunday, Curtis Blaydes.
In case you didn't know...
Curtis Blaydes didn’t have the best of starts to his UFC career when he initially lost his first Octagon fight to Francis Ngannou back in 2016 at UFC Fight Night 86. However, the 26-year-old has been on a dominating run ever since, picking up wins against the likes of Cody East, Adam Milstead, Daniel Omielańczuk, and Oleksiy Oliynyk.
In his last two performances inside the Octagon, Blaydes picked up two massive wins over Mark Hunt at UFC 211 and very recently also knocked out Aleister Overeem at UFC 225.
The heart of the matter
While appearing in a video to promote the upcoming clash of the heavyweights' bout between Francis Ngannou and Curtis Blaydes, current UFC Double Champion, Daniel Cormier stated the latter is currently one of the fastest rising prospects in the UFC and is on the cusp for fighting for a UFC Championship as well.
"Curtis Blaydes is a new guy. This is a big, strong, durable wrestler, who is now gaining confidence in his hands. What I’ve seen from Curtis Blaydes is constant evolution and a guy that’s on the cusp of fighting for a UFC championship.”- Daniel Cormier stated.
In response to DC, Blaydes spoke with MMAjunkie recently and stated that he is definitely on the rise and current UFC Heavyweight Champion, Daniel Cormier realizes that very well.
“That’s respect. Real recognizes real. He knows I’m on the way. I’ve been telling people that for the last eight months, but having him bring it up, it only validates the things I’ve already been saying.”
What's next?
Curtis Blaydes will look to avenge his UFC debut loss against Francis Ngannou tomorrow night in Beijing, China and with a win on this occasion, Blaydes is likely to receive a shot at the UFC Heavyweight Championship.
