After almost eleven months, Curtis Blaydes returned to the confines of the Octagon at UFC Baku. ‘Razor’ got knocked out in his last fight, where he failed to topple Tom Aspinall to win the interim heavyweight belt, so he wanted to make an impression in his comeback fight. While the outcome was what he desired, Blaydes couldn’t deliver in the fight in the way that he had planned.

Curtis Blaydes welcomed Rizvan Kuniev to the UFC, and they really showed up and showed out with their back-and-forth contest. The fight went all fifteen minutes as the former interim title contender edged past with a split-decision victory. Blaydes was happy to get back into the winning column, but he apologized to the fans for not giving them more action.

According to Curtis Blaydes, his left knee buckled in the very first round, forcing him to go on the back foot. The 34-year-old claims his MCL was compromised and that it limited his ability to move. This ultimately caused him to be more cautious and try to fight out the whole three minutes. “Not an excuse, but my left MCL, it popped in the first [round], took away my movement. I just started surviving. Sorry, guys,” the heavyweight fighter stated in the post-fight interview.

Well, Blaydes may not need to go hard on himself because such things often happen in a fight. Now, the heavyweight fighter is more likely to face a medical suspension for a considerable period. But in the meantime, Curtis Blaydes has his map to the title already planned out. After failing to beat one interim champion, he has his sights set on another, and that’s, of course, Ciryl Gane.

Ciryl Gane, as we know, has been busy with his acting chops of late, and hasn’t yet announced any upcoming fight. Well, Curtis Blaydes is waiting for him as an option and even has a date in mind, and that’s pretty soon. Let us take a look at that front.

Curtis Blaydes proposes a fight against Ciryl Gane

Ciryl Gane is currently on a 2-fight winning streak and has been speculated to be Tom Aspinall’s next opponent, as Jon Jones hasn’t shown any signs of making a return yet. While that is just speculation, the fight against Curtis Blaydes is also another option, and perhaps a clash against him in a title eliminator fight. And ‘Bon Gamin’ doesn’t even have to wait too long. Blaydes wants to fight again at least once by the end of this year.

“I want Gane, Ciryl Gane. I know I can be healthy by October/November. I wanna get back in here,” Curtis Blaydes added. However, ‘Razor’ has another contender to watch out for because that person wants to fight Ciryl Gane as well. Jailton Almeida, who recently expressed his wish to fight Alex Pereira since the heavyweight title scene is in limbo, expressed his wish to fight ‘Bon Gamin’ over a couple of months ago. “I want to fight Ciryl Gane. I challenge him several times, and he never answers,” said Almeida.

Well, things are getting interesting in the heavyweight division, but the lack of a title fight is still haunting the fighters. We’ll have to wait and see what Ciryl Gane has to say about Curtis Blaydes’ offer, but in the meantime, let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.