Finally, Curtis Blaydes is getting a shot at UFC gold, but it’s not exactly under ideal circumstances.
For starters, Blaydes will compete for provisional heavyweight championship defended by Tom Aspinall at UFC 304 (ESPN+ pay-per-view) on July 27 in Manchester, England, but that doesn’t really bother him.
“In a perfect world, it’s Aspinall vs. Jon (Jones in a unifying title), but that’s not the world we live in,” Blaydes told reporters backstage at last weekend’s UFC on ESPN 59 in Denver. “The UFC has had a lot of weird and wonky fights over the years. …It’s normal for the UFC. I’m not like, ‘Oh my God.’ It’s normal.”
What is not normal is a different circumstance surrounding the fight. Although UFC 304 takes place in the United Kingdom, the promotion maintains the pay-per-view’s traditional start time of 10pm ET, five hours behind local Manchester time. This means that Blaydes (18-4 MMA, 13-4 UFC) and Aspinall (14-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) will face each other in the middle of the night or very early in the morning.
That part seems to bother Blaydes.
“The biggest difference is that it will be 4 a.m., and it doesn’t feel like a real title fight,” Blaydes said. “You wouldn’t let McGregor fight at 4am, no matter where it was in the world. This makes it seem a little less, but I don’t mind. I’ll get the money from the title fight. That’s all that matters.”
Blaydes said he is not doing anything different to prepare for the time change. He will arrive in Manchester on July 21st and will spend the fight week normally.
“If I’m tired 5 minutes before they call my name, I think it’s my fault,” Blaydes said. “If you can’t fight for the title, you don’t deserve it. This is my preparation.”
Blaydes, 33, has waited years for this title opportunity to materialize. He was on the edge in 2021 until Derrick Lewis knocked him out. But Blaydes responded by winning four of his last five fights to secure this rematch with Aspinall It means everything to him.
But it’s as usual.
“There’s always pressure,” Blaydes said. “No one wants to lose. No one wants to be knocked out on TV in front of millions. Regardless of whether it was in the preliminaries or something like that, that’s always the pressure I have. I don’t want to lose, but there’s no extra pressure because it’s a title fight. It’s just the pressure of a fight that’s always there.”
For more information on the card, visit the MMA Junkie events hub to UFC 304.
