UFC President Dana White heard about Blaydes’ trash talking before the event and he believes the fighter’s performance made him look stupid.
“I like Curtis Blaydes, but Curtis Blaydes has the wrong attitude as far as I’m concerned,” White said at the UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs. Volkov post-fight press conference (via Mike Bohn of MMA Junkie). “I don’t have anything against the kid at all, (but) when you talk (expletive) like he talked this week, you better come in and whoop somebody’s ass when you talk (expletive) like that. When you talk the (expletive) that he did and perform like he did tonight? You look stupid. Yeah, he won. He talked a lot of (expletive) coming in this week. I don’t think you talk the (expletive) he talked this week and come in and perform like that. Talking about rag-dolling people, and he’s not getting paid, and yada yada, he should be getting the title shot. He gassed out at the end of the third round, made it to the fifth and won the fight. Yeah, he won.”
Blaydes did promise a rag dolling of Volkov in their main event encounter, but Volkov still managed to win a few rounds in the eyes of the judges.
A victorious Blaydes called for a title shot after the bout, but White sees the situation a little differently.
“His two losses are to Francis,” White said. “How do you give him the title shot ahead of Francis? But, yeah, he would be considered next in line. But with his performance tonight and his cardio? I wouldn’t wait around if I was him. I’d stay active. I’d stay busy.”
There is no word yet on what could be next for Blaydes, because there are two fighters ranked ahead of him in the division, with Daniel Cormier (#1) getting the next title shot and Francis Ngannou (#2) already holding a pair of wins over the fighter.
