American mixed martial artist Curtis “Razor” Blaydes is no newbie when it comes to taking on tough opponents in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Curtis, who competes in the heavyweight division of the UFC, has previously faced some of the most difficult opponents in number three heavyweight fighter Sergei Pavlovic and former heavyweight champion Mark Hunt. Next up for the number five ranked heavyweight fighter is Brazilian Jailton Almeida, whose unbeaten streak streak goes back to 2018.

The two heavyweight fighters go head to head in the UFC 299 contest in Miami on Saturday night (early Sunday morning in India). The two will face off in what will be the last bout of the preliminary at UFC 299, with the winner getting a possibility to seal their status in the top five rankings among heavyweights. Almeida is ranked seventh currently, while Curtis is in fifth place. Almeida and Curtis were due to fight in November last year but an injury to the latter meant Almeida fought Derrick Lewis instead.

Firstpost caught up with Curtis Blaydes ahead of the fight, wherein he spoke about how he sees Almeida as an opponent, and if there’s a possibility of fighting current heavyweight champion Jon Jones.

Excerpts:

Question: You were due to fight Almeida in November, but you withdrew from that about due to injury. So talk about the recovery process and how confident are you going into this fight?

Blaydes: I’m 100% healthy. I’m extremely confident. I wouldn’t have taken the fight if I wasn’t healthy. I just needed rest. It was an injury that you couldn’t work out on.

It took me a while to understand that and after I took a break about four or five weeks, I was healthy again and I was ready to get back in into the gym. So it was just, it really, it wasn’t a super complicated rehab.

It was really just I needed a break. My body was breaking down.

Question: Almeida is unbeaten in 15 fights with his last defeat coming in 2018. So do you consider him to be one of the toughest opponents you have faced?

Blaydes: No. I’ve fought very tough people. I’ve fought Francis Ngannou twice. Junior Dos Santos, Alistair Overeem, Mark Hunt. So I’m not saying he’s not highly skilled, but I’m not going to put him as a scarier opponent than those guys.

Question: And your fight against Sergei Pavlovich, that was a very grueling bout. So what did you take away from that fight in particular?

Blaydes: There wasn’t a whole lot to take from it. I got knocked out in the first 40 seconds. There’s not a whole lot you can take from that. Besides, this is heavyweight and the margin of error is extremely, extremely slim. And you got to come out ready to go. And I wasn’t ready that fight. And I guess that’s what I learned. You got to be ready to fight.

Question: So tell me about the preparations for this fight. How have you been preparing for this?

Blaydes: Nothing out of the ordinary. I do my strength and conditioning. I lift, I spar, I grapple, I wrestle. I don’t alter my workouts for any of my opponents because I’m not going to alter who I am. I’m still going to do what I do in all my fights, so I don’t alter anything.

Question: And talking about your highs, one of them would be defeating Tom Espinall in 15 seconds. So how did you do that?

Blaydes: Oh, he got injured. So it’s not really, I don’t really brag about that one. That’s not a fight that I brag about because I don’t feel as though I knocked him out, he got injured. So I’d like to run that match maybe in the the future, sometime on the line, but as of right now, I feel like we have unfinished business.

Question: You’re ranked as the number 5 in heavyweights, the top five are all considered as contender status. What is your pathway to facing the champion, Jon Jones?

Blaydes: Probably not going to ever happen, but the best way to make that happen is to win. But I highly doubt anyone’s going to fight Jon Jones after Stipe Miocic. I only believe they’re both going to retire, which I don’t blame them. They both earned a lot of money. They’ve gotten older and they don’t have to fight it. They can do other stuff. They can be, they can be analysts, they can work with ESPN. So yeah, I don’t believe Jon or Steepa is going to be in the UFC after the fighting careers.

Question: How do you see Almeida as an opponent?

Blaydes: I view it as a ‘W’, I’m going to win, but it’s a fight, so it’s impossible to make any predictions. He might attempt to take me down early, or he he might not. Maybe I take him down, maybe not. Maybe I hit him with a head. Maybe I elbow him on the wall and I knock him out. There’s a million ways it could go. I’m prepared to win a million ways.

Question: And do you feel any nerves going into this match?

Blaydes: I’ve felt nervous before for every fight and I believe they’re always going to be there. The nerves are good. It lets you know that you’re alive, that you’re active, that you’re aware of what you’re about to do. Nerves are good. Always have nerves.

Watch UFC Fight Night 299 – O’Malley vs. Vera 2 on 10th March 2024 from 8:30 AM IST onwards LIVE on Sony Sports Ten 2 SD & HD, Sony Sports Ten 3 SD & HD (Hindi), Sony Sports Ten 4 SD & HD (Tamil & Telugu).