UFC Heavyweight Talks Feeling Disrespected By "Juice Head" Brock Lesnar Getting Title Shot
UFC Heavyweight Curtis Blaydes, who is coming off of a TKO victory over Alistair Overeem at UFC 225 last June, recently joined Submission Radio and discussed Brock Lesnar returning to the UFC and his upcoming fight with Francis Ngannou in November. You can listen to the interview in the video above, they sent us these highlights:
What a win over Ngannou would do for Curtis' title campaign:
"Had I fought and beat Stipe, the heavyweight with the most title defenses, I think... I would've been automatically the next one in line. Beating Ngannou, does it improve my argument? I think so. Just because a win's a win. Like, I have to beat whoever they give me, so you can't punish me for beating a guy with a two-fight losing streak when that's who they gave me."
"This is the UFC, so you never know. I may have to fight one more time, I may have to fight two more times. Who knows? I used to think about that, like, my trajectory and who's next and what's next. But all it does is you end up feeling disappointed and disrespected when it doesn't happen. And I don't wanna be walking around feeling like I'm disrespected. So, I don't have any expectations for after this fight besides winning. I don't have any expectations for what's next."
Feeling disrespected by the UFC:
"I still feel disrespected that Brock Lesnar gets to jump in out of the blue. He's not even ranked. He's not even officially on the roster and he gets to have a title fight scheduled and he hasn't proven himself. So yeah, that's what makes me feel disrespected."
If Curtis ever got the chance to speak to the UFC about Brock getting the title shot over him:
"No. But I mean, it's obvious. We're all adults. They want money. I get it. They want money. I'm not money yet, so it is what it is."
If Curtis gives Brock any chance against Daniel Cormier:
"No. None whatsoever. I don't even view Brock as a legitimate MMA fighter. He was juiced to the gills when he fought in the early to mid-2000's. So I don't respect juice heads."
Whether he sees MMA as a sport now or entertainment:
"This isn't a sport. It's not a sport like the NFL or the NBA or MLB or NHL or any other major sports leagues in the world, because in any of those leagues you can't just be a guy off the street and just take a guy's spot on the roster cause you're famous. That would be like if Will Smith was like, 'yo, I really like the Lakers, I want to play for the Lakers'. You can't do that. This isn't a sport, but it does require athleticism to get the most out of it. So, like you said, I'm in the middle. It's probably leaning more towards the entertainment. I don't think skill matters quite as much as marketability."