Ciryl Gane reacts to callout from perennial heavyweight contender Curtis Blaydes
At UFC Paris last weekend, Ciryl Gane finished Tai Tuivasa in what proved to be a thoroughly entertaining heavyweight main event in the French capital.
He had to overcome some adversity, but ‘Bon Gamin’ still managed to prove that he’s a real threat in the title picture.
One man who was watching closely is none other than Curtis Blaydes, another top prospect who is coming off the back of a controversial win over Tom Aspinall at UFC London – which was controversial, of course, due to the Englishman suffering a nasty knee injury just 15 seconds into the bout.
Read also:
Furthermore, the 31-year-old would like to fight the winner of Tai Tuivasa vs. Ciryl Gane, which is happening in September. Blaydes believes a matchup like that would need to be a title eliminator as well. The heavyweight contender has been in the top five for years, but has not yet fought for gold.
“I’m not going to fight someone again ranked below me. I did it for Aspinall because I knew a win over him would be legitimate, and he’s ranked sixth but could easily be top five. So, that was different. But, I’m not going to fight someone ranked below me. I want the winner of Tai Tuivasa [vs. Ciryl Gane].”
Curtis Blaydes continued, “I’ve earned it, I deserve it. I’ve been in the Top five since 2018, ever since I beat Alistair [Overeem]. I deserve a title eliminator fight.”
After Blaydes noted that he wanted to take on the winner of Gane vs Tuivasa, Ciryl used his post-fight press conference to note that the match-up isn’t really of interest to him right now.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen exactly. People talk about Stipe [Miocic] against Jones, but I’m here,” Gane said.
“I don’t have a good answer [about who is next] – maybe Jon Jones for the hype, for the money. I think maybe Stipe or Jones [will be next]. I’m sorry, bro, if I have a choice, it’s not going to be [Curtis] Blaydes. This is not smart.”
Stipe Miocic and Jon Jones appear to be on a collision course with the popular opinion being that they’ll collide in the UFC’s final pay-per-view card of the year in December.
Either way, though, Blaydes isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.