Curtis Blaydes began fighting nearly 8 years ago. He has a spotless 5-fight record as an amateur before he turned professional and entered the XFO. After 2 years of competing, he earned a contract with the UFC and fell to Francis Ngannou via 2nd round doctor stoppage at UFC Fight Night: Rothwell vs Dos Santos. In his next 10 fights, he has claimed 5 stoppage wins which is an indicator that he is one who likes to go for a finish. It has been the case right from his amateur days.
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Curtis Blaydes announces himself on the amateur scene
In a tweet by Spinnin Backfist, we get to see the then 21-year-old in his first cage fight. He took on Robbie Strong at No Mercy 2012 at Melrose Park, Illinois.
Here, he stepped into the bout cautiously before completely surprising the bigger fighter. Strong was left reeling by a right hand to his cheek. ‘Razor’ moved in, grabbed his opponent by the waist, and proceeded to suplex him onto the canvas.
CURTIS BLAYDES FIGHT WEEK
Here’s his first amateur fight
All 13 seconds of it pic.twitter.com/Bbguq3rINZ
— Spinnin Backfist (@SpinninBackfist) June 17, 2020
Following this, he turned the fighter onto his belly and relentlessly dealt him blows to the back of his head. As Strong kept covering up and made no attempt to toss Blaydes off or even stop the punishment in any other way the referee leaped in and waved off the fight. It lasted a mere 13 seconds and remains his shortest fight to date.
Since his 2nd loss to ‘The Predator’ in China, Blaydes has notched up a hat-trick of wins. He overcame Justin Willis via unanimous decision at Fight Night: Thompson vs Pettis. In addition to that, he registered 2nd round TKOs over Shamil Abdurakhimov (UFC 242) and Junior dos Santos (Fight Night: Blaydes vs dos Santos)
While he hasn’t come anywhere close to beating that 13-second victory, ‘Razor’ has made a name for himself and risen to 3rd in the Heavyweight division. When he faces the 7th ranked Alexander Volkov this Saturday, he knows a win will keep him in the conversation for a UFC Heavyweight title fight and help him maintain his ranking.
What did you make of Curtis Blaydes’ first fight?
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