After watching Derrick Lewis and Francis Ngannou lull the combat sports world to sleep with a three-round snoozer in the UFC 226 co-main event, surging UFC heavyweight contender Curtis Blaydes felt that his status as the division’s number-one contender was solid as concrete.
Neither Ngannou or Lewis wants to throw cause neither wants to gas out
— Curtis Blaydes (@RazorBlaydes265) July 8, 2018
So this is what ppl wanna see huh not my boring lay n pray but two guys stalking each other point fighting lol #Ufc226
— Curtis Blaydes (@RazorBlaydes265) July 8, 2018
https://twitter.com/RazorBlaydes265/status/1015809106425229312
thank you to Derrick and Francis, they just cemented me as the #1 contender”
— Curtis Blaydes (@RazorBlaydes265) July 8, 2018
“Neither Ngannou or Lewis wants to throw cause neither wants to gas out,” Blaydes said on Twitter as he watched Ngannou and Lewis’s undeniably terrible fight.
“So this is what ppl wanna see huh?” Blaydes added in a follow-up Tweet. “Not my boring lay n pray but two guys stalking each other point fighting.”
“That was worse than watching the grass grow. Thank you to Derrick and Francis, they just cemented me as the #1 contender.”
Unfortunately, Blaydes’s hopes of receiving the next heavyweight title shot were quickly dashed. Shortly after Daniel Cormier knocked out Stipe Miocic to claim the divisional title, Brock Lesnar marched into the cage, and promptly usurped the next crack at heavyweight gold.
https://twitter.com/UFCEurope/status/1015818405805342721
Suddenly, Blaydes’ title shot, which moments before seemed right at the end of his grasp, was disappearing into the distance. As you might have guessed, he’s not happy about that.
https://twitter.com/RazorBlaydes265/status/1015862591422267392
“Tired of all the politics,” a fired-up Blaydes said on Twitter (edited for clarity). “Like is it even still even about fighting? First CM Punk, now [Brock Lesnar]. I’ll just continue to grow as a martial artist and become more dangerous and I refuse to resort to that WWE B.S. Fake arguing just to draw in lame ass casual fans… pfft.”
Curtis Blaydes burst into heavyweight title contention at UFC 225, when he knocked out former Strikeforce, Dream and K-1 heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem with a meteor shower of third-round ground-and-pound. He defeated heavyweight legend Mark Hunt in his next most recent fight.
Blaydes is likely not the only fighter who’s ticked off about Lesnar’s return to the MMA limelight. Alexander Volkov, who actually weighed in ahead of UFC 226 in case Cormier or Miocic couldn’t compete, has also been bumped aside by Lesnar.
Incidentally, it would not be surprising to see Curtis Blaydes and Alexander Volkov matched up in the meantime.
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 7/8/2018.