Curtis Blaydes

Curtis “Razor” Blaydes is an American heavyweight from Chicago, Illinois, who competes in the UFC and is one of the division’s most technically sound wrestlers. Born on February 18, 1994, Blaydes earned All-American wrestling honors at Harper College before turning to MMA, eventually competing on The Ultimate Fighter 23 in 2016. He built his professional career around relentless takedowns, grinding top control, and effective ground-and-pound that has frustrated elite heavyweights throughout his UFC tenure.

Blaydes established himself as a perennial top-five heavyweight with wins over notable opponents including Alistair Overeem, Junior dos Santos, Alexander Volkov, and Jairzinho Rozenstruik. He has challenged for title shots multiple times and been among the division’s most consistent performers across a long career. His losses have come almost exclusively to the elite knockout artists of the division — Francis Ngannou twice, Derrick Lewis — highlighting both the ceiling that elite striking power imposes on wrestlers and the quality of opposition he has routinely sought out.

Blaydes is a fundamentally sound fighter who maximizes every tool available to him: his wrestling is not merely defensive but genuinely offensive, as he uses takedowns to dictate pace and position throughout fights. His ground-and-pound is accurate and damaging, and his cardio allows him to impose those tools deep into later rounds. He represents the best of what a wrestling-based heavyweight can achieve in the sport’s most physically demanding division.

Stats last updated: September 19, 2026