\n<\/p>\n
Glendale \u2014 It wasn\u2019t a fight that went over well with fans, but Curtis Blaydes had his dominant wrestling on full display at Noche UFC, where he earned a decision victory over Waldo Cortes-Acosta.<\/p>\n
It was a bounce back fight for both men, with Blaydes (20-6, 1NC) entering off a loss to Josh Hokit, and WCA having dropped a fight to Alexander Volkov. Speaking with Cageside Press and other media outlets following the fight, \u201cRazor\u201d Blaydes opened up on what surprised him in the fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lack of aggression. We expected him to be way more aggressive. We prepared, we sparred. I had all my sparring partners blitzing me, blitzing me. I would swap out guys in the middle of rounds,\u201d explained Blaydes. \u201cWe expected him to just non-stop, non-stop. Maybe we underestimated how effective my wrestling fakes were. He gave me a lot more space than I was expecting; I didn\u2019t take advantage of it the way I really should have, but again, can\u2019t have a perfect fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blaydes plans to go back, review footage of the fight, and \u201clook at the places I could have capitalized, I should have capitalized. I wish I had gotten a lot more ground n\u2019 pound, he did a good job of holding onto my wrist, which is legal.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s not legal is holding the fence, something he noticed Cortes-Acosta doing. Luckily, the ref swatted the Dominican\u2019s hand away. \u201cEveryone\u2019s been doing that. Hokit did it also, the last fight. I\u2019m glad Big Dan was on it, he was able to see it. We gotta be more attentive to that, because that can change the whole flow of a round, of a fight. But I\u2019m glad that he was on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Next up, Blaydes is looking to fight up the rankings. Not that he\u2019s entirely sure who\u2019s up there. That\u2019s because the #11-ranked fighting in the AI-driven \u201cMeta Rankings\u201d (the media-voted rankings at least have Blaydes at #6) has stopped paying attention to them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I deserve a top five opponent. There\u2019s a lot of these younger guys, no disrespect, I don\u2019t know a lot of their names. I know Mario Pinto, couple other guys. They\u2019ve slowly been coming ahead of me, I\u2019m like, \u2018why am I sliding?\u2019 Yeah, I lost to Hokit, but it was a great fight. Even Hokit\u2019s been sliding. Rizvan [Kuniev] is ahead of me, I beat him. He gets top 5 after he beats Tyrell Fortune, he wasn\u2019t even ranked. Mario Pinto gets top 10 after he beats Ryan Spann, who isn\u2019t even a real heavyweight. The rankings don\u2019t mean a damn thing to me no more. I no longer respect them, I\u2019m not even going to look at them.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Blaydes doesn\u2019t know who\u2019s ranked where, he added, \u201cI hope to get a top 5 opponent next.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for people who picked against him based on Blaydes\u2019 fight with Josh Hokit, \u201cI hope you lost money. I hope all you lost money,\u201d he exclaimed.<\/p>\n