Patience! Blaydes To Wait For Title Shot After A Pavlovich Win

Curtis Blaydes wants his first Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) title opportunity.

Since arriving in the promotion in April 2016, Blaydes, 32, has had the potential and talent to be a future world champion. Unfortunately for “Razor,” a handful of poorly timed knockouts set back the dominant and smothering wrestler.

Blaydes (17-3, 1 no contest) returns to action in the main event of UFC Vegas 71 this weekend (Sat., April 22, 2023) against Sergei Pavlovich (17-1). A win for Blaydes would extend his current winning streak to four and make him hard to deny as the next title challenger.

“I know what I’m working towards,” Blaydes said at UFC Vegas 71 media day. “I win, I’ll wait for the title shot. I don’t care who it is. If it’s Jon [Jones], if it’s Stipe [Miocic], they [can] bring in Brock Lesnar. I’ll wait.”

UFC’s Heavyweight title picture has been in somewhat of disarray since Jan. 2022 after the former champion, Francis Ngannou, defended his throne opposite Ciryl Gane via unanimous decision (watch highlights). Ngannou has since parted ways with the promotion, leaving fans wishing they’d seen the megafight between him and Jones. As a result, Jones returned and defeated Gane with a first-round guillotine submission (watch highlights) to claim vacant gold.

Jones now appears slated to make his first Heavyweight title defense against the arguable divisional greatest of all time, Stipe Miocic. Blaydes has always been considered perhaps “Bones” toughest match up at Heavyweight and a realist regarding the legend’s abilities in their weight class,

“Last year I was asked about a potential match up between him and Stipe, it was a smaller interview, and I gave my answer. I was like, ‘I pick Stipe because he’s shown me he’s had multiple five-round Heavyweight fights and I haven’t seen that out of Jon,’” Blaydes said. “I guess Jon seen that and he kind of popped off on me on Twitter. That’s about it — the only engagement [between us].”

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To check out the latest and greatest UFC Vegas 71 news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive here. For the updated and finalized “Pavlovich vs. Blaydes” fight card and ESPN+ line up click here.