If there was someone that was most affected by UFC 226 without actually being involved in the event, it was probably Curtis Blaydes.

After earning the biggest win of his career at UFC 225 by knocking out Alistair Overeem in devastating fashion, Blaydes had seemingly lined himself up for the possible next title shot.

But directly after UFC 226’s heavyweight championship super fight between Stipe Miocic and light heavyweight champ, Daniel Cormier…that all went out the window.

Cormier made history and knocked out the heavyweight king, Miocic in the very first round to become the new dual-division champion. Right after that? Former UFC champion and current WWE star, Brock Lesnar stormed the cage and well…has now been gifted a title shot upon his MMA return.

In a recent interview with Fightful, Blaydes shared his thoughts on the whole aftermath that went down in the cage with Cormier and Lesnar.

“It reeked of WWE, and I don’t like that. I understand this is an entertainment sport, but we have to be careful that we don’t overvalue someone’s marketability over their production in the cage. I want to be judged on the merit of my victories, not on the smack that I talk. They don’t care about your ranking, they just want you to sell the fight. That’s not fair. The number one priority should be to win the fight. I shouldn’t have to make my case, it should be common sense.”

Blaydes isn’t alone in regards to feeling this way. But when it comes to matching up with Lesnar himself? Blaydes is fully confident that he knows what the results would be.

“I would destroy Brock Lesnar. What’s to be scared about? Is he going to outwrestle me? No. He’s definitely not going to outstrike me. He hasn’t won a fight in 8 years. I would be pissed if they gave Stipe Miocic a re-match. Brock? That makes no sense.

I would have said [to Lesnar] ‘Why do you think you deserve the title shot?’ I’d like to hear that from his own mouth. Why do people want to see that fight so bad? He’s not good. He doesn’t really have a skill set. Even his wrestling, people are so impressed by it. I’m not.”

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 7/9/2018.