One other unranked Russian is combating a High 5 Final Combating Championship (UFC) fighter subsequent yr.
When the information broke final week that former Heavyweight interim title challenger Curtis Blaydes would battle unranked UFC rookie Rizvan Kuniev at UFC Seattle in February 2025, the blended martial arts (MMA) world scratched its heads.
It’s not prefer it hasn’t occurred earlier than, although. In 2023, one-fight UFC veteran Abus Magomedov headlined a UFC Combat Evening in opposition to No. 7 ranked Sean Strickland (watch highlights), and simply final yr, unranked Shamil Gaziev collided with No. 8 seeded Jairzinho Rozenstruik.
Each Russians bought completed by the UFC veterans.
Historical past repeats itself, however much more absurdly, as a result of Blaydes is coming off a title battle with Tom Aspinall and Kuniev is making his UFC debut in opposition to him, pink flags had been once more raised.
Nonetheless, nobody needs to be bothered by the random battle as a result of “Razor Blades” doesn’t care.
“[UFC] reached out to me with a reputation, and I used to be like, ‘I just like the date,’ so I stated yeah,” Blaydes instructed James Lynch. “Folks don’t perceive that the cash is similar whatever the opponent, so I’ll take a paycheck…All I do know is he’s Russian. I’ve had expertise combating Russians, they’re not simple to place away, so I’m anticipating a typical Heavyweight battle. He’ll be swinging to get me out of there as early as he can, and I’ll be doing my job by not letting him do this.”
The No. 5 ranked Heavyweight might have waited for somebody within the rankings, nevertheless it wouldn’t have been till later in Q1 or Q2.
“They sort of gave me the choice, and I might have simply waited, however it might have been a protracted wait, like all the best way till April or Could,” Blaydes stated. “So I simply figured they bought me an opponent, I preferred the date, and it’s exhausting to show down a paycheck.”
Blaydes will look to rebound from his knockout loss to Aspinall, whereas Kuniev will look to get his first UFC win since starching his opponent on Contender Collection in August.
To checkout UFC’s upcoming schedule of occasions click on right here.
