Curtis Blaydes Hadn’t Heard Of His UFC 313 Opponent: ‘I Had To Google Him’

Longtime UFC heavyweight contender Curtis “Razor” Blaydes returns to the Octagon this weekend at UFC 313, but he admitted that his opponent wasn’t the most familiar name to him when he received his bout agreement.

Blaydes is currently ranked fifth in the UFC’s official heavyweight rankings, and is looking to pick up a crucial victory to reposition himself for a shot at one of the men ranked ahead of him.

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But, after being knocked out in just 60 seconds by UFC interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall last time out at UFC 304, Blaydes has to face a rising contender as he looks to defend his ranking before turning his attention to the division’s top contenders again.

Blaydes will take on Russia’s Rizvan Kuniev on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena, and in a pre-fight interview with MMAFighting.com, Blaydes freely admitted that he didn’t know too much about his opponent, and had to jump onto the internet to do some quick research before launching into his pre-fight prep.

“I did (a double take), but like I always say, the money’s the same regardless if it’s Jon Jones or if it’s a debut guy,” he said.

“The money’s the same, so I’ll always be down.”

During his research into Kuniev, he also discovered that the Russian was one of nine PFL fighters that had tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2023, and was subsequently suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

Blaydes said that facing someone with a record of taking performance-enhancing drugs isn’t a huge concern, and he’s happy to face him, either way.

“I heard about that also,” he said.

“Who knows? That might be part of this. Maybe he has to get it out of his system, but I heard about rumors like that about (rival heavyweight contender Jailton) Almeida and, I mean, he is very strong and he did have skills, but roids are not going to be the difference. It’s not going to be enough.

“Even if he is on some stuff, I don’t believe it’s going to help him with his sprawling or help him take a punch. I’m all right with it, even if he is on some stuff.”

Blaydes also revealed that, while he was happy to sign on the dotted line to face any heavyweight the UFC puts in front of him, that wasn’t the case for the man he wanted to face at this event, French contender and former title challenger Ciryl Gane.

“I normally don’t do this, but he has turned (it down),” he said

“I have heard this from my management speaking with Hunter (Campbell, UFC CBO), who does the contracts and negotiations. He has turned me down three times over the past four years.

“I remember I asked for him originally in 2021, and they gave me (Alexander) Volkov. I wanted him again after that one and they gave me Derrick Lewis. I’ve asked for him a few times.

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“Originally that’s the one I wanted after the Aspinall fight. ‘OK, I guess I’ll go for Gane,’ and he ends up in there with Volkov. I don’t think we will ever fight, unfortunately.

“It just sucks because I think it would be a great fight for me. I beat him, that should be enough to get another title shot.

“Beating the guy I’m about to fight right now, it’s hard to say. He doesn’t have any value as a name right now. I don’t even know his name. Rizvan Kuniev? Right now (he) doesn’t have a lot of name value.”

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