CURTIS BLAYDES

The American heavyweight Curtis Blaydes operates out of the Elevation Fight Team facility. A former junior college wrestling champion, he built his reputation in the octagon through heavy takedown volume and a wrestling-focused approach. His tenure in the division features significant victories over prominent names such as Alistair Overeem, Alexander Volkov, and Junior dos Santos. Consistently ranked among the top fifteen fighters, he has balanced his grappling acumen with a history of stopping opponents via strikes.

Entering this mid-July 2026 event, Blaydes holds an overall professional mark of 19-6-0 with one no-contest. His recent activity shows mixed results leading into this matchup. He suffered a unanimous decision loss to Josh Hokit in April 2026, which followed a split decision victory over Rizvan Kuniev last year. Prior to that, he was stopped by Tom Aspinall, defeated Jailton Almeida by knockout, and fell to Sergei Pavlovich.