UFC London | “I have stood before the hottest fires” – Curtis Blades

In the lion’s den

It doesn’t matter to Blade to fight in the lion’s den. He’s done this before against Mark Hunt in Australia. Blaydes says Hunt’s support in Australia is much greater than Aspinall’s in England. It is impossible for the English public to make more noise than the Australian public.

first leg matches

Blaydes prefers not to fight in his home port. Alistair Overeem fought in Chicago and had no fun during that week. There were a lot of snags with people calling him to get tickets etc. So Blaydes prefers to fight elsewhere so he can put his full focus on the fight.

Expectations

He doesn’t know what to expect against Aspinal. He always studies the battles of his opponents with his team. However, experience shows that if there is already a fight, then the opponent fights completely differently. This makes Blaydes curious about how Aspinall approached him on Saturday.

outcome

For Blaydes, this is clear. The winner of this match will fight against the winner of the match between Cyril Jean and Tai Toivasa to be held in September in Paris. Ngannou is not currently in the picture. Blaydes is happy to have more clarity on who will fight in the squad. A few years ago with the trio between Miocic and Cormier, it was impossible to fight for the title.

past

In the past, Blaydes was frustrated that he was often underestimated and not given the opportunities he thought he deserved. Now he has a different mindset and just wants to worry about the things he can influence. Work hard and make sure people don’t ignore him.

Dutch style MMA

Blaydes started training in “Dutch Style MMA”. According to Blades, he does not exist at all, but the coach who offered him was someone who had started training in Amsterdam for a year. When he returned, he named his class “Dutch Style MMA”. However, it didn’t work out and Blaydes soon left.

Alistair Overeem

The Blaydes beat Overeem in the UFC a few years ago. Overeem then went to Blaydes camp to train with him. Blaydes says Overeem will be in London on Saturday to cheer him on. However, they did not train together for this match.

Japanese comics

Like Israel Adesanya and Chris Curtis, Curtis Blaydes is also a huge fan of anime. The American says he also doesn’t know why many of his colleagues like the anime. He looked at her before he even thought about fighting the MMA. That was around 1999.