There's something comforting about being able to write this today and I don't really know why. I guess I am at a stressful point in the semester and I'm just relaxed and looking forward to being able to talk about fighting instead of the respiratory system. Anyways, Saturday's main event was surprising in one way, but I don't think the ultimate result really shocked anyone. Curtis Blaydes was a pretty heavy favorite for a reason, but we all expected him to wrestle his way to a win. He instead opted to stand and strike with Daukaus, which is what Daukaus wanted, but Blaydes found a powerful right hand that landed near Daukaus's eye that dropped him in the opening exchanges of the second round. Blaydes jumped on Daukaus as he was on his knees and landed a few ground and pound shots to cause Herb Dean to step in and stop the fight. It was a big win for Blaydes as he has now gotten himself right back into the title mix at heavyweight after he lost to Derrick Lewis a couple of fights ago. This is the first time in a little bit that the heavyweight division has been interesting to talk about because it is so open at the moment. I'll go into that in more detail when I talk about what is next for Blaydes, but let's talk about his performance first for a moment.
Curtis Blaydes took a calculated risk in this fight and it really paid off for him. That logic came from one of two places and regardless of which it was, I think it is an important progression in the career of Curtis Blaydes. The first option is that he felt confident enough in his striking to just stand with Daukaus for five rounds, believing that he would be able to win a kickboxing match with him. The other option is that he took the risk because he knew a knockout win in the standup would be more impactful for his career going forward. I'm kind of hoping that it is some combination of the two because Blaydes being that confident in his striking will make him an overall more dangerous fighter as he won't be as anxious to get to his takedowns. If it is a conscious effort on his part to be more aggressive and try to finish more fights, then that is also a great thing. He can still do that on the ground, which is really the step I want to see him take going forward, but this is a great thing for Curtis if his mindset has truly shifted a bit. This win will only do more to improve his confidence, but at the same time, you don't want him to fall in love with his hands and leave his wrestling in the past because that is his real advantage in almost every single fight he can be in. As for what we saw Saturday, he looked really good. I thought he won the first round against someone who's strength is striking, so, what more could he really ask for? He did get hit a little bit, but he really limited that after the first couple of exchanges. His chin looked good too, which is always a box to check off after a big knockout loss. I know he fought Rozenstruik between Lewis and Daukaus, but he really didn't get hit at all in that fight, so it was good to see him take shots without too much of an issue. I really don't have much else to say about him to be honest. He looked great. I'm glad he's improving in the striking and he feels good about it. I'm glad he's looking to do more damage and finish fights, I'm excited to see where he goes from here.
Where he goes from here is really as open a question as can be right now. I don't believe anyone in the top 15 is booked except Rozenstruik vs Marcin Tybura, which takes place in a couple of weeks, so from a match making stand point, everyone is available. With that win, Curtis Blaydes is right in the mix for an interim title fight that I assume we will get after Francis Ngannou successfully underwent knee surgery. From where I sit, there's really 6 names that are being considered for that spot. In no particular order, those fighters are Jon Jones, Stipe Miocic, Ciryl Gane, Curtis Blaydes, Tom Aspinall, and Tai Tuivasa. I had a slightly different version of this same conversation last week after Aspinall's win, but it is worth revisiting now that we know Blaydes got the win. I think the best way to do this would be to start with the title fight and then figure things out from there. I would be shocked if we see an interim title fight without Stipe Miocic. He's the UFC heavyweight GOAT and he's only 1 fight removed from being the undisputed champion. He's getting up there in age and I don't think he has a ton of interest in fighting a standard title eliminator type fight unless it is a big fight. I don't think he has to worry about that because his resume stands out from everyone else involved and if Ngannou had been healthy coming out of the Gane fight (ignoring his contract situation for the sake of argument for a moment), I think Stipe would have been given the trilogy fight, so it only makes sense that he would have this fight too. The next easiest guy to talk about is Jon Jones...never thought I would say that, but here we are. To put it simply, if the belt isn't involved, Jon isn't fighting and I'm not sure he is even if he does have a title shot. In my mind, that means he's either fighting Stipe for the interim title or he's not fighting at all. The problem is that I'm starting to think that it is going to be the latter. I think if Jon vs Stipe was a real possibility, we would be hearing something about it. We're starting to get fights rumored for multiple PPVs in July and his name has never come up and neither has the heavyweight title in general. There's only so long that the UFC will hold out and they're going to need some PPV headliners after that. If Jon does fight, I think things match up pretty nicely. If Jon fights Stipe, then it makes sense to me to do Gane vs Tuivasa and Blaydes vs Aspinall, I think that is the best way to make those fights so that all of them are equally as interesting. Gane got grappled his last time out and Tuivasa gives him a chance to bounce back with a stand up fight. Similarly, we know Tuivasa struggles in the grappling at times and it gives him another high level fight to stand and try to bang it out with Gane. Blaydes and Aspinall are both more well rounded and matching those 2 up creates a very interesting dynamic that I would love to see play out.
Where things get even more complicated is the situation where Jon Jones isn't fighting. That leaves an opening for the interim title. For me, the debate for who should fight Stipe would come down to Tai Tuivasa and Tom Aspinall. Tuivasa and Aspinall are on equal 5 fight win streaks (only using Aspinall's UFC record), but I think Tuivasa's last win over Lewis carries more weight than Volkov for Aspinall. Additionally, Aspinall has said that he doesn't want the title fight, he wants to fight one more time before then. Now, I believe he would take the fight if offered it, but it doesn't seem like he's really in any rush. Tuivasa is probably the most deserving by the traditional measuring sticks. He's on the longest win streak with the highest level win. However, I think Aspinall provides the much more interesting matchup and fight with Stipe. I really won't complain if either of those 2 gets it to be honest. Because Jon is unavailable, this creates a situation where there is an odd number of fighters, which is probably where Derrick Lewis gets inserted into the conversation. The problem with that is that he's fought everyone in this group except Stipe and Aspinall. He's not fighting Stipe so that isn't an option, but I do think it is possible that Lewis vs Aspinall gets made. In the case where Aspinall vs Lewis is the fight, that leaves Tuivasa to fight Stipe, which leads to Blaydes vs Gane. I don't hate that fight, but it does throw Gane back in with a much better wrestler after he was dominated on the ground. To me, the way to maximize all 3 fights would be if Jon Jones were in the mix, but without him, I think that is the way to do it. I would be pretty surprised if Gane walked right back into another interim title fight, so I don't really foresee that as getting too much consideration. There are also options where Aspinall or Blaydes fights Tuivasa, but I think putting Tai into a fight where he could be clearly out wrestled (that isn't a title fight) is just a waste. He's going to have to fight a wrestler eventually, but when Ciryl Gane is an option, I don't see why they would just put him in there with a grappler anyways. That is just my opinion, but I think it all makes sense. I think my problem is that I am trying to maximize all 3 potential fights instead of just worrying about 1 at a time, but that is just my personality. To bring this back to Curtis Blaydes, I think his most likely options are either Ciryl Gane or Tom Aspinall. Aspinall would be a really fun fight as they're both so well rounded. Otherwise, I think Gane makes some sense and it gives Gane the opportunity to show the grappling that I assume he's been working on since losing to Ngannou.
When it comes to Chris Daukaus, I said before the Derrick Lewis fight that I thought they were rushing him. He lost that fight via first round knockout, so they responded by giving him and even tougher fight in Curtis Blaydes. I know this fight was a short notice main event, but the UFC is really risking damaging his development to a point of no return. Daukaus went from fighting Shamil Abdurakhimov to Lewis and Blaydes. He didn't even fight poorly per se, he just couldn't stand up to the power. Every time Blaydes landed a solid shot, it was effecting Daukaus and the last one he finally went down. Blaydes seemed to suggest that he thought Daukaus go down to 205, but I don't know if that is really in the cards. Daukaus weighed in at 240 I think, so that would take a significant lifestyle change I imagine. Daukaus could cut at most 15 lbs during the actual weight cut, but he would have to come into fight week around 215 or so at the heaviest. I'm not sure how realistic that actually is for him at this stage, but if it is, then it sounds like it is worth a shot to me. Daukaus looked decent offensively. He looked fast and was landing with power early on, but his chin just wasn't holding up. I still believe in him as a prospect, but he needs a step back.
Because he's newer to the rankings and everyone is open to being booked, he really has no shortage of options. Because of that, he's almost certain to get someone coming off of a loss, so we'll limit it to that for now. Alexander Volkov is coming off of a loss, but I'm looking for a step back for him right now. I think the loser of Tybura vs Rozenstruik will make sense for Volkov. I think the fighters that make the most sense for Daukaus are Augusto Sakai and Walt Harris. Both of those fighters are coming off of consecutive losses much like Daukaus and fight with a style that will give both parties a chance to bounce back. For me, I think I prefer to see the Sakai fight, I think he's a little bit better than Walt Harris at this stage and that is the type of test I want to see Daukaus face. Daukaus was losing to Shamil before he got the knockout, so in reality, I think that level of fighter is probably more appropriate for him than Lewis and Blaydes ever were to begin with. I just hope that they haven't stunted his development and made him tentative or something going forward. I think he's still a very good fighter and he has plenty of time to turn things around, but too many knockouts in a row definitely aren't great for the longevity.
What do you guys think? What did you think of the fight? Did Curtis Blaydes earn the title shot for you? If not, who should get it? Who should Blaydes fight next? What should the UFC do with Chris Daukaus next? What level of fight do you want to see for him? Leave your thoughts in the comments. Thanks for reading and have a good one.
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