Curtis Blaydes has taken a close look at the landscape of the UFC heavyweight division, and he sees Ciryl Gane as the obvious frontrunner for his next fight.
Blaydes, No. 5 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie heavyweight rankings, took to social media on Monday and expressed his desire to clash with No. 3-ranked Gane sometime this year, summing the pairing up as “logical” (via Instagram):
This has to be the next logical matchup for the both of us @ufc #makessense #dancepartner #heavyweight #contenders
Blaydes (15-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC) has won five of his past six fights and is coming off a dominant decision win over Jairzinho Rozenstruik at UFC 266 this past September. Over the course of his UFC tenure, Blaydes has only suffered losses to Derrick Lewis and current heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou.
Gane (10-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) is fresh off the first loss of his career. The Frenchman had an undefeated rise to become interim UFC champ, but he could not successfully unify the titles with Ngannou at UFC 270 earlier this month and took a unanimous decision loss in their headlining matchup.
The grappling deficiencies of Gane were exposed in the fight with Ngannou, as he was taken down multiple times en route to his loss. Blaydes has the most completed takedowns in UFC heavyweight history, and he would certainly aim to add more to his record if the potential matchup with Gane materialized.
https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2022/01/ufc-news-curtis-blaydes-calls-out-ciryl-gane-logical-matchup-heavyweight