Over the past few years, Curtis Blaydes has been a curious observer when it comes to the UFC heavyweight title because, frankly, he's grown tired of his calls to challenge for the belt falling on deaf ears.
At UFC 304 in July, Blaydes will finally get his first chance at gold when he faces Tom Aspinall in the co-main event, though he will technically only be fighting for a share of the title that night. Aspinall currently holds the interim title and Jon Jones is the reigning UFC heavyweight champion, but Jones is expected to face Stipe Miocic in November in a legendary bout that's been more than a year in the making.
Jones' choice of Miocic as his opponent may irritate Aspinall, but Blaydes understands why the fight is being made as a title unification bout.
“I knew John wanted the money fight,” Blaydes told MMA Fighting. “And the money fight is Steep. No disrespect to Steep, but he's getting older and not as fast as he used to be. On paper, it looks like a breeze. Like I said, no disrespect to Steep, but he's like 43. In 10 years, I won't be the guy I am today. No disrespect, but I knew John wasn't going to fight anyone other than Steep. When he was talking about Alex Pereira, I knew it wasn't going to happen.
“I've heard about it but it hasn't stuck in my mind. I can't believe something like that would happen. It would have been a shock if it had happened but I never believed the rumours.”
Miocic hasn't fought since losing his UFC heavyweight title to Francis Ngannou in 2021 via knockout.
Assuming the Jones fight takes place in November, Miocic will be two months away from celebrating his 42nd birthday and is unlikely to pull off an upset against Jones, who has never tasted defeat in his career (the only blemish on his record is a disqualification that ended a fight for an illegal strike when Jones was clearly winning).
Still, Miocic is one of the greatest heavyweight fighters in UFC history and has more consecutive title defenses than anyone in the organization's 30-plus year history, and his track record and name recognition are exactly what Jones is after, and Blaydes can't blame him.
“Look at it from a business standpoint, or from a war standpoint: if you can take this base that's well-known and not as heavily guarded, you could take another base that's a little smaller but is heavily guarded and you'd get pretty much the same respect no matter which base you take, so you'd choose the easier base,” Blaze explained. “Why wouldn't you?”
Rumors have also swirled for months that if Jones beats Miocic to defend his UFC heavyweight title, it could be the final bout of his legendary career. Jones has hinted at retirement in the past, but adding Miocic to his resume seems like one of the last boxes he wants to check before stepping away from the sport.
Of course, Jones could stay on to try and unify the titles against the winner of the Blaydes-Aspinall bout, but the veteran heavyweight contender doesn't see that happening.
“I completely believe [Jones will retire]”He's got to prove us wrong. That's my view. A lot of guys think that. Of course we talk about these things in the gym and we have perspectives from other fighters, other coaches, other people in the MMA world, but I haven't heard anybody who really believes he's not going to retire,” Blaydes said.
To be clear, Blaydes doesn't have a problem with Jones deciding to retire after the Miocic fight – in fact, he questions why Jones would even consider staying and risking it all against him and Aspinall.
“Why did he [retire]”What else does he need to prove? He's got the money. He's got the status. He's the GOAT. There's no denying that. He's at the top of Mount Rushmore to everybody. I don't see why he'd come back to the Octagon after the Stipe fight,” Blaydes said.
However, Blades feels that facing Aspinall rather than Jones will actually be a tougher fight, and while he respects Jones' long track record, Blades acknowledges that facing Aspinall will be a bigger threat as he will be going up against a much bigger, stronger opponent, simply put.
“I'm Aspinall [is the tougher fight] “Because he's young, he's a little bit bouncy and he's a natural heavyweight,” Blades said Wednesday. MMA Hour“I know John is the better grappler, but I don't think that's enough to brand him as a stronger fighter than Aspinal. I think that's because Aspinal is a bona fide heavyweight. I think his striking is probably stronger than John's too. This is all speculation, but it looks like he has more striking power than John. He's shown he can grapple, but not at the highest level. I'd give the edge to Aspinal.”
“I know Jon is going to hear this and say, 'So you think I'm bad'. That's not what I'm saying. Aspinall is a tougher opponent than Jon Jones right now.”
