Curtis Blaydes Won’t Change Fighting Style To Please Fans: ‘I Don’t Want To Get CTE’
Curtis Blaydes will not be changing his fighting style anytime soon.
Blaydes takes on Derrick Lewis in the UFC Vegas 15 headliner this weekend where a win could all but assure him of the next heavyweight title shot — after Francis Ngannou, of course.
The Chicago native’s last outing was a unanimous decision victory over Alexander Volkov in June and leading up to the fight, Blaydes notably declared that he would be ragdolling the Russian with his wrestling. However, it was a drab affair with Blaydes inflicting little significant damage before seemingly gassing out in the championship rounds.
It was still enough for him to earn the unanimous verdict but given his pre-fight comments in addition to criticism of fighter pay, UFC president Dana White didn’t hold back about his performance.
Don’t expect Blaydes to come out striking against Lewis, though.
If anything, the criticism from White as well as fans in general have only fueled him to continue fighting in his wrestling-heavy style.
“One of the best things for me about what happened then is that now, I don’t give a damn about what anybody says,” Blaydes told Yahoo Sports. “I have a family to provide for and whatever I have to do to accomplish that, that’s what I’m going to do. If that doesn’t fit into people’s idea of how I should fight, that’s not my problem.”
Blaydes is more than capable of striking and getting knockouts — he proved that against Junior dos Santos earlier this year when he TKO’d the former heavyweight champion on the feet.
However, the risks outweigh the rewards and Blaydes sees no point in trying to appease the fans if it means potentially losing out on half his win money.
“I could go out there like a madman and swing and punch and give people the bloody, crazy fight they want,” Blaydes explained. “But that’s not the best way for me to fight given my skills. And if I fight that way and people love it and I lose, are they going to pay my bills when I get half of my money? Are they going to care about me when I’m going to the hospital to get my brain checked?
“These people need to think about their jobs. If they go to work and they got half of the money for showing up and then they got the other half if they did all of these risky things, what would they think?”
More than anything, Blaydes wants to maintain a healthy brain and his style allows him to take minimal damage compared to other fighters who stand and bang.
“I think a lot of people think that MMA fighters are meatheads who don’t care about their bodies,” Blaydes added. “They think we don’t care about getting CTE and being able to live a long and healthy life. I don’t know about anyone else, I do care. I don’t want to get CTE. I want to have a healthy brain.
“I want to remember my daughter’s birthday when she’s 18. I don’t want to forget it. I don’t want to forget her name. I don’t want to forget where I put my car keys every day. The best way for me to do that is to protect myself. The best way to protect myself in the Octagon is simple: If I put you on your butt, you can’t hit me hard. So that’s what I’m going to do.”
What do you think of Blaydes’ comments?
