Curtis Blaydes agregó algo de poder de boxeo serio a su juego avanzado de lucha. Blaydes mantuvo su lugar entre la élite de los pesos pesados con una gran caída y un violento final de piso y libra de Chris Daukaus en el evento principal de UFC Fight Night en el Nationwide Arena en Columbus, Ohio.
Muchos esperaban una revisión moderna del luchador contra el delantero cuando Blaydes y Daukaus se enfrentaron. Blaydes optó por mostrar la profundidad de su juego de golpes. Blaydes encendió el nitroso al comienzo de la ronda 2, desmoronando a Daukaus con un gancho y aplastándolo para el final por nocaut técnico. El árbitro Herb Dean canceló la pelea a los 17 segundos del asalto.
Blaydes, durante su entrevista posterior a la pelea, llamó al reciente retador al título de peso pesado de UFC, Ciryl Gane, a una pelea por el título interino. El entrevistador Daniel Cormier señaló que el ex campeón Stipe Miocic estuvo presente.
«Quiero ser como tú, pero eso significa que es posible que deba vencerte», le dijo Blaydes a Miocic. Te respeto…»
Blaydes (16-3, 1 NC) sigue siendo una de las peleas más difíciles en la tierra de los gigantes, perdiendo solo ante los artistas del nocaut Francis Ngannou y Derrick Lewis. «Razor» Blaydes agregó el nombre de Daukaus a una colección de victorias que incluye a Alistair Overeem, Mark Hunt, Junior dos Santos, Alexander Volkov y Jairzinho Rozenstruik.
Daukaus (12-5) ha perdido peleas consecutivas por primera vez en su carrera profesional de MMA después de enfrentarse a los incondicionales de la división Blaydes y Lewis. Ingresó a la promoción con cuatro finalizaciones consecutivas sobre Shamil Abdurakhimov, Aleksei Oleinik, Rodrigo Nascimento y Parker Porter.
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